Kalimpong: Former Morcha duo in Trinamul

Kalimpong, April 7: Two former Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders and around 400 people from the hills and plains joined the Trinamul Congress at a workers’ meeting in Kalimpong today in the presence of Trinamul senior leaders Mukul Roy and Gautam Deb.

Namita Gautam, a former Kalimpong branch president of the Nari Morcha, and Pravin Rahapal, a former member of the Morcha’s central committee, were made Trinamul’s Darjeeling hills women’s wing president and Darjeeling hills secretary respectively.

To the chants of Vande Mataram, Trinamul all-India general secretary Mukul Roy gave party flags to the new members.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, Trinamul’s Darjeeling hills convenor Rajen Mukhia and Kalimpong branch president Chewang Bhutia were present at the programme held at the Kalimpong Government High School grounds today.

Mukhia said 400 people, among them several Morcha supporters, joined Trinamul today.

Addressing the 1,000-odd gathering, both Namita and Rahapal accused the Morcha of settling for the GTA by sacrificing the Gorkhaland demand. They said if the development of the hills was the only issue (for the Morcha), Trinamul was best suited for that purpose.

Rahapal accused Morcha president Bimal Gurung of nepotism and deceit in a speech that was greeted with an applause.

“We thought Bimal Gurung will play a role like that of UPA chairperson by not being a part of the GTA. But he is in it, his wife is in it and also his son-in-law. The Morcha has become his family’s party,” he said.

Gurung’s wife and son-in-law are both executive Sabha members of the hill body.

Rahapal, who was expelled from the Morcha last month for anti-party activities, said Gurung had publicly sworn that he would not settle for anything less than Gorkhaland, but he eventually settled for the GTA because of his love for the chair.

“If you (Gurung) ever manage to deliver Gorkhaland, I will leave the hills for good. If I don’t, you can ask your people to chase me out,” Rahapal said.

Namita said she had decided to join Trinamul because she had confidence in the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“The Morcha accepted the GTA for the sake of development. I have joined Trinamul because it can do a better job of ensuring development,” she said. Namita had quit the Morcha earlier this month.

Morcha secretary Roshan Giri accused the duo of betraying the cause of statehood and said their joining Trinamul would not affect the hill party.

“They have betrayed the cause of Gorkhaland. They have joined a party, which is opposed to Gorkhaland. Their joining Trinamul will make no difference to our party,” he said.

Mukul Roy today promised to work for peace, development and progress in the region.

“Peace and tranquillity must prevail in the hills …We want Darjeeling to move forward and progress,” he said.

The Telegraph