Gurung feels at home - Morcha chief moved by govt gestures

Siliguri, Oct. 25: Bimal Gurung today said the concern shown by the Trinamul-led government after the Bijanbari tragedy made him feel at home, indicating the sea-change that the relationship between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the state government has undergone in the past few months.

But the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief while appreciating the gestures did not mention either the word “state” or “Bengal”.

“The co-operation we received here at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) from different corners including the Trinamul Congress, Congress and the local people was an extremely humane gesture. I think this has happened for the first time in 34 years (the period of Left rule). Considering the help and solidarity that we received here, I felt like this was my home (yeh apna ghar hai),” Gurung told journalists after his tour of the NBMCH.

The Morcha chief, accompanied by party general secretary Roshan Giri, and MLAs Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Rohit Sharma, met the 22 injured people admitted to the medical college and spoke to the doctors on duty on their condition. The visit lasted for around 45 minutes. The Congress MLA from Matigara-Naxalbari Shankar Malakar also accompanied the Morcha team.

This is the first time that Gurung visited a hospital after the walkway gave away and left 32 people dead and more than 100 injured.

“After the overwhelming response that we got from every level here, now I think we have to nurture this relationship,” the Morcha president said.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the hills a day after the tragedy, visited all the injured people at the NBMCH and the Darjeeling district hospital.

She had also been in touch with the district administration and the Morcha leadership while personally monitoring the rescue operation.

Gurung’s remarks today were his way of mending fences. After the earthquake on September 18, when Mamata visited Sikkim where 60 people were killed after a brief stop at Kurseong, Gurung had said the chief minister had “committed a sin with her cursory hill visit”. Gurung had also said it was such actions that made him demand statehood.

But the Morcha-Mamata relationship began to thaw when the chief minister announced a slew of projects for the hills during her visit to Darjeeling on October 11.

In fact, when he was asked today if he would demand central assistance for the Bijanbari victims, Gurung said he would leave the matter to Mamata.

“That will be decided by our Madam Chief Minister and her government. At the moment, the members of our central committee will decide how best to help those affected in the Bijanbari incident,” Gurung said.

The Morcha chief also visited the Bagdogra army hospital, where 10 accident victims had been admitted, before returning to Darjeeling.

“The accident has brought together the people of the hills and the plains. After coming here, we felt that they (the injured people from the hills) were not away from their homes. We are grateful to the state government and locals for this gesture,” Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri said at the medical college.

The Trinamul MLA from Siliguri, R.N. Bhattacharya, who is also the chairman of the state standing committee on health, said 42 patients were being treated at the NBMCH and several nursing homes in Siliguri. He was also present at the medical college today.

TT