Strike looms after hill rivals clash

Darjeeling, May 5: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today threatened an indefinite strike across the Darjeeling hills from Tuesday after a clash broke out between its supporters and GNLF cadres at Soureni in Mirik block in the morning. The Morcha said it would wait till 6pm tomorrow for the arrest of GNLF leaders and the transfer of the officer in charge of Mirik police station Sourav Sen, failing which the strike would be called. It is not clear yet if Sen had ordered or led an alleged baton-charge to break the Morcha-GNLF clash. Police sources said 20 Morcha workers and six GNLF supporters had been arrested in connection with the clash. The threat of the strike has come at the beginning of the tourist season, which coincides with summer school holidays when families from the plains travel to the hills to escape the heat. Tour operators feel the strike threat will hit the sector adversely as the hills receive more than half of its tourists in April-June. The clash in the morning was followed by an arson attack on a GNLF leader’s house in the evening. Unidentified people set fire to the house of M.G. Subba in Singamari at 7pm. The fire was put out by the local people. The morning clash took place when GNLF supporters were on their way from the Terai to inaugurate a party office at Soureni in Mirik, 45km from Darjeeling. The GNLF said its cadres were attacked with stones and sharp weapons by Morcha supporters. The Morcha called a shutdown soon after the clash around 11.30am. All shops were shut down in the hills. But the party retracted after a purported promise of administrative action from the chief minister. “We have sent a message to chief minister Mamata Banerjee requesting her to take stern action against those who attacked our supporters. She has promised to take appropriate administrative action and we have now decided to lift the strike till 6pm tomorrow,” Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said around 4pm. “If the GNLF supporters involved in the clash are not arrested and the Mirik officer in-charge is not transferred by 6pm tomorrow, the entire hills will be shut down for an indefinite period from day after tomorrow. The Mirik OC is deliberately targeting Morcha activists,” he said. GNLF convenor Arjun Rai said the time for the inauguration of the party office had been fixed at 11am. “As we were apprehensive of the Morcha’s plan, the programme was started at 9am,” he said. The GNLF office was opened and there was no untoward incident. “However, our supporters who were coming from the Terai were stopped near Soureni by the Morcha supporters. Around 600 GNLF supporters were on the way to Soureni from different parts of the Terai and we asked police to clear way for them. Around 11.30am today, 100 of our supporters who were left stranded near Soureni (about 2km from the venue) came under attack from Morcha supporters,” said Rai. The GNLF has been trying to rebuild its base in Mirik because it still has some supporters there. Eight GNLF supporters were injured in the violence and taken to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. The condition of two was stated to be serious. Pradip Chhetri, a GNLF supporter who suffered minor injuries, said: “It was around 11.30am when we were proceeding towards Soureni. We had prior information that Morcha activists had gathered at various places. When we were a few hundred meters from Soureni, around 30-40 Morcha supporters, who were armed with stones and sharp weapons, attacked us.” The Morcha trained its guns at the police for the violence. Phoebe Rai, the Morcha convenor from Mirik, said the police did not stop the GNLF supporters who provoked a gathering, comprising mostly Morcha supporters. “The GNLF supporters provoked the general public of the area but the police, instead of stopping them, lathicharged us. The GNLF hardly has any supporters and given the general public mood against the party, the administration should not have allowed them to hold a meeting. The administration failed to read the public mood,” said Phoebe. He added that GTA Sabha member Arun Sinji was badly injured in the lathicharge and admitted to a private nursing home in Siliguri. Darjeeling police chief Kunal Aggarwal denied that there was a lathicharge. “There was no lathicharge. The police only showed the lathis to scare away the mob.” Of late, the Morcha has been under pressure as both the GNLF and the Trinamul Congress have been reviving their activities in the hills. The GNLF has started consolidating its base in the Mirik-Terai region and a number of Morcha supporters joined the party. That is probably one reason why Morcha president Bimal Gurung is currently camping in Mirik. The Morcha filed an FIR against “more than 100 GNLF supporters” in connection with today’s incident. Arjun Rai said the GNLF would also file an FIR against Morcha supporters. Tour operators are keeping their fingers crossed. “The flow of domestic tourists has just begun and any strike call during this period will hamper the industry for the rest of the season. Tourism industry is a very sensitive sector and even a small problem will lead to a lot of cancellations,” said a tour operator. Around 4 lakh domestic tourists visit the hills every year on average and around 2.5 lakh of them make the trips during the April-June period. Trinamul switch Rohit Sharma, a central committee member of the Morcha from the Dooars, joined the Trinamul Congress in Calcutta on Sunday. Padam Lama, who joined Trinamul from the Morcha recently, said: “Today, Rohit Sharma, a senior GJM leader from the Dooars has joined Trinamul. He has understood the fact that the Morcha leadership has betrayed the people of the Dooars.”