Simulbari (Kurseong), April 5: The
GNLF today managed to gather nearly 5,000 supporters at Simulbari,
located at the border of the hills and plains, for a show of strength on
its foundation day.
The rally at Simulbari, 20km from
Siliguri, is not the GNLF’s first in the last three years since its
leader Subhash Ghisingh was driven out of the hills but today’s
supporter presence was the largest the GNLF managed since 2010.
The rally has
happened at a time the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the ruling force in the
hills, has fallen out with the state government.
Of late, a trickle
of Morcha activists in the hills and the Dooars has started moving
towards the GNLF and the state’s ruling party, Trinamul Congress.
Ghisingh, who was banished from the hills in 2010 and has since being living in Jalpaiguri, did not attend today’s meeting.
His party today
demanded Sixth Schedule status for the Darjeeling hills that allows
autonomy to a specific geographic area with constitutional validation.
“We observed the
foundation day of our party as the Gorkhaland Namkaran Sthapna Diwas to
remind people that it was the GNLF and its chief Subash Ghisingh who had
raised the demand of statehood on April 5, 1980, that is 33 years
back,” said Mahendra Chhetri, president of the Terai regional unit of
the GNLF and a central committee leader of the party.
“We wanted to make
sure that people understand the superiority of the Sixth Schedule,
which if conferred would have constitutional validation,” Chhetri said.
“The meeting is a
part of the exercises taken up at the preparatory phase. Our principal
leader (Ghisingh) will soon address people in public and will also go to
the hills within next four to six weeks.”
The Rohini and
Pankhabari roads were supposed to have been shut to traffic from 9am to
3pm today but police did allow vehicles to pass. Police said around
5,000 people came to the rally.
Since morning,
GNLF supporters assembled from different corners of Terai and Kurseong,
where Simulbari is located. Though in the hill subdivision, Simulbari is
at the border of the plains, the last point before vehicles enter the
hills.
Chhetri said the
state government and the administration were “maintaining the law and
order in a proactive manner” in the hills. “We also appreciate the
announcements made by the chief minister to form development boards for
Lepchas and Buddhists in the hills,” he said. The Morcha staunchly
opposed the formation of the Lepcha board under the state government.
“Forming such
councils or bodies for conservation and promotion of different tribes
and their cultures dwelling in hills has been mentioned in the Sixth
Schedule…. We thus appreciate the decision,” Chettri added. Chhetri,
Tshering Dahal, a woman GNLF leader from Sukna, and other leaders termed
the GTA illegal.
Some supporters of
the Morcha and the CPM today joined the GNLF, which put their number at
650. The veracity of the GNLF claim could not be confirmed
independently.
The GNLF also managed to mobilise about 500 supporters for a rally in Mirik.
Around 2,000
Morcha supporters, too, brought out a rally in Mirik. The attendance of
GNLF supporters in Mirik, observers believe, was significant given the
fact that the party has not been able to function freely.
In Darjeeling,
nine Morcha supporters also joined the GNLF at a party meeting organised
at Barbotey, about 15km from Darjeeling town. The meeting was attended
by more than 100 GNLF supporters.
The Telegraph
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