Morcha Siliguri march halted

Sukna (Kurseong), April 9: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s effort to march to Siliguri, days after Trinamul leaders held meetings in the hills, came to nought today when they were stopped a few kilometres from Darjeeling More, the entry to the town. The Morcha held its rally at Sukna’s BB Gurung Memorial High School ground, which is near Siliguri and a few hundred metres outside the GTA area. Police said they stopped the march of the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurva Sainik Morcha, a Morcha-backed group of ex-servicemen, 5km from the entry point to Siliguri town because they apprehended law and order trouble. The outfit wanted to march to Darjeeling More, then return to Sukna, about 7km away, and hold a rally in a school ground there. At the Sukna rally, Binay Tamang, the Morcha’s assistant general secretary, said all notorious leaders from hills had joined the Trinamul for financial gain, not for development. “Trinamul has become like a municipality dustbin where all unscrupulous leaders from the hills have joined. It is evident that all notorious leaders from the hills are joining the ruling party for vested interests. These leaders plan to make financial gain by associating themselves with the ruling party of Bengal. But we are not disturbed by this act as only one or two leaders from the Morcha have joined Trinamul.” He added that these were leaders who “had already been suspended from the party for anti-party activities”. The ex-servicemen organised the rally ostensibly to protest the attack on former jawans by police on April 9, 2008. The timing of the march is crucial though. As recently as March 31, north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb held a public meeting in Darjeeling. On April 7, Trinamul senior leader Mukul Roy held a rally in Kalimpong. Tamang’s statement is in contrast to Gurung’s recent remarks that he did not want to deteriorate the situation in the hills further and rather focus on development through the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. Tamang also scoffed at Trinamul’s repeated claims that Morcha supporters were joining the state’s ruling party. The Morcha leader said the crowd at Trinamul’s meetings in Darjeeling and Kalimpong had supporters from Terai and the Dooars, not from the hills. He said the supporters were the same people who participated in the programmes of the GNLF, Subash Ghisingh’s party that the Morcha has displaced in the hills. “A few meetings in the hills don’t mean the Trinamul has got a strong foothold in the hills. I was near the venue of Trinamul’s meeting in Kalimpong on Sunday and we noticed that they had brought cadres from the Terai and the Dooars to assemble a crowd of around 400 people. We have been keeping tabs on meetings organised by Trinamul and the GNLF and found that followers of Rajen Mukhia (Trinamul leader in the hills) from Panighata were present in both the GNLF meeting at Simulbari and the Trinamul meeting at Kalimpong,” Tamang said. “This exposes the nexus of both parties in the hills,” he added. “We will contest the panchayat polls in the Dooars and start campaigning as soon as the dates are announced,” he added. The rally was also attended by Roshan Giri, Morcha general secretary, who said the party suspended its scheduled agitation programme for statehood following the visit of Jairam Ramesh, the Union minister for rural development, in Darjeeling on Sunday. “We held talks with Jairam Ramesh who had come as an emissary of the central government. He has assured us that all our demands will be met. So we have decided to suspend our agitation for now. The Centre has assured an early tripartite meeting between Morcha, the state and the Centre,” Giri said. “Trinamul cadres have been entering the hills and holding meetings with the protection of paramilitary forces. But our rally is not being allowed to go till Darjeeling More,” said Ramesh Allay, the Morcha leader who is also the president of the ex-servicemen wing. Police officials, when asked as why the march was stopped at Dagapur, said they did not want “any breach in the law and order situation”.