Terai Dooars: Rallies done, strike put off - Morcha holds meetings in Dooars without permission

Darjeeling,TT April 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has “deferred for sometime” its strike in the Dooars, having achieved what it had wanted to: hold public meetings in the region.

More than 2,000 people assembled to hear the Morcha leaders, including party chief Bimal Gurung, speak at two venues in the Dooars today.

The administration, which looked the other way, dismissed the public meetings as “indoor” events on which they had not imposed any embargo. The indefinite strike from Monday had been called by the Morcha to protest the government’s refusal to give permission to hold meetings in the Dooars.

Sources in the Morcha admitted that its change in stand could primarily be attributed to the fact that it could hold the public meetings.

However, after the 36-hour bandh relaxation announced by the party ended this evening, Morcha assistant secretary Binay Tamang said: “We have decided to postpone for sometime our strike in the Dooars because of repeated appeals from the district administration.”

The Morcha had announced a 36-hour bandh “relaxation” that ended at six this evening.

Till yesterday, the Morcha was firm on going ahead with its strike in the Dooars and an agitation in the hills.

Alipurduar subdivisional officer Amal Kanti Roy had met party chief Bimal Gurung in Jaigaon with a plea to withdraw the shutdown.

Roy had told the Morcha chief yesterday that the government would consider the permission for meeting only after a fortnight, following a review of the situation. But before that the Morcha should withdraw the strike, the SDO had said.

However, the Morcha chief had refused to give any assurance to the SDO on not proceeding with the strike.

Morcha sources cited two reasons for putting off the strike: it could hold meetings without permissions and the strain relations with the state government, which it doesn’t want.

The first was evident when Morcha leader Binay Tamang said this evening: “Without permission we held meetings in two places in the Dooars today — Beechkaman and Dalsinghpara.”

A Morcha leader said since its main purpose was being served — holding public meetings in the Dooars — there was no need to “unnecessarily” escalate tension and indulge in violence.

“We wanted to hold public meetings in the Dooars and we did so today without permission,” the leader said. “The district administration did not try and stop us in any way. So our purpose is served. So why should we unnecessarily provoke the situation by calling a bandh and then indulge in violence to impose it?”

Jalpaiguri district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra said to her knowledge the Morcha was holding indoor meetings. “There is no bar on indoor meetings. However, I have asked the police superintendent to look into the matter,” she said when asked whether any permission had been given to the Morcha to hold public meetings.

A second reason for the bandh being deferred was that the party did not want to strain relations with the state government, especially since the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is expected to be formed in a couple of months, a Morcha leader said.

“The recent incidents of violence in the Dooars by our supporters have led to a law and order problem which we believe the district administration wants to avoid. We, too, do not want unnecessary violence. But it is wrong to blame the violence on us as it could easily have been avoided had the government given us permission to hold a public meeting,” he said.

In a truce message to the government, Gurung said at a public meeting in Dalsingpara: “I have nothing against the chief minister.”

A Morcha source said that with the purpose of holding public meetings having been served, the violence would end and the party hoped that relations with the state government would again be back on track.

Besides, the leader said, an escalation of violence in the Dooars could easily delay the submission of the final recommendations of the Justice Shyamal Sen committee which in turn could defer the GTA polls.

Another Morcha leader said during the deliberations the party leadership had in the last 36 hours realised that the nature of the movement in the plains was “slightly different” from that in the hills.

“Unlike in the hills, in the plains we are with the breakaway faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad led by John Barla,” he said. “We have no control over their cadres. So in case there is a bandh we may not necessarily have full control over the movement.”