Gurung hints of demand other than gorkhaland

GJMM chief might be toying with idea of hills’ merger with sikkim
Darjeeling, 27 August : In a veiled threat, the GJMM chief Mr Bimal Gurung today stated that his party might leave the beaten tracks and go for a movement demanding “something else” other than Gorkhaland in the coming days if the Centre continues keeping mum on their statehood stir. 
“We shall demand something else, if the Centre feels disinclined to intervene in the Gorkhaland movement.  Time would unfold things. I would announce our new stance at the appropriate time,” he said while addressing a mammoth gathering of students at the bus stand in Darjeeling.
Indicating that the party might leave the GTA behind in its stir for statehood, he said that he is not inclined to talk about the GTA. “I have already quit it”, Mr Gurung said. He had quit the post of the chief executive of the autonomous body on 31 July to plunge into the Gorkhaland movement following the UPA endorsement of the demand for Telangana.
The election to select his successor is slated for 4 September. However, things are murky as the state government has not made clear its stance regarding the GJMM demand to release the GTA Sabha members now behind  bars as a condition for its participation in the
election. 
So far, police arrested 10 GTA Sabha members along with over 800 GJMM activists in connection with old cases.  Speculations are rife as to what the GJMM chief has hinted at by alluding to ‘something else other than Gorkhaland’.
According to an observer, two options might be in his mind ~ one is the demand for Greater Nepal and another unification of the Darjeeling Hills with Sikkim. “The Hills now under Bengal were once under the Nepalese occupation after Nepal annexed these tracts from Sikkim and things remained so for around three decades till the East India Company dispensation annexed these lands from Nepal in the course of the First Anglo-Nepal War in 1815 and then returned them back to Sikkim by Titaliya Treaty signed two years later.  However, it is most unlikely that the GJMM would pitch for Greater Nepal as it would turn their movement secessionist. But it is very likely that he is toying with the idea of the Hills’ merger with Sikkim ~ the mother state which the Hills now under Bengal were parts of. The demand has been there for a long time and it would definitely gain momentum in case the GJMM throws its weight behind it,” the observer added.(SNS)

Gurung plays surprise card with his “other than statehood” statement

Even as the statehood agitation in the hills is surging forward with demonstrations, rallies and speeches, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today surprised one and all by stating he would demand for something other than a separate Gorkhaland state when the appropriate time approaches.

Further, he sounded vague when commenting on the state government’s attempts to crush the ongoing agitation and the Centre’s apparent refusal to be part of the ongoing ‘political showdown’.

“If the state government has a problem with the Gorkhaland state demand, then there will come a time when we will have to ask for something else,” said Gurung. “In any agitation there are pluses and minuses, this we do accept. We maybe on a lower ground at the moment, but that position will not remain permanent. Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal.”

The GJM chief made these comments this morning in Darjeeling to an electronic media channel while overseeing a public meeting organised by the student’s front.

However, when was asked to comment on the same issue at a press meet later in the afternoon, Gurung refused to elaborate and snapped, “Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal.”

With the state government proving a hard nut to crack and using every option at its disposal to crush the ongoing movement, the

GJM is desperately seeking central government intervention to come to some sort of a solution.

“The Union government must look at our agitation for a separate state positively. This (statehood) demand needs a political solution and the central government must intervene as it is not a state government matter anymore,” said Gurung.

The GJM chief has already said he would not sit for talks with the state government under the present circumstances given the arrest of more than 800 party activists and leaders including Gorkhaland Territorial Administration sabhasads in raids since July 29.

The party has also said it would attend the GTA meeting on September 4 provided each of the arrested persons is released. But observers believe this condition is unlikely to be accepted by the state government as it will not want to portray itself as having succumbed to the GJM’s strong arm tactics.

Although Governor MK Narayanan has said he would readily mediate between the state government and GJM to end the present impasse, the latter has shown little interest given the governor’s unambiguous assertion that Bengal’s borders will continue to extend from the ocean to the mountains. Despite this, the GJM has said it would convene a meeting to discuss Narayanan’s offer to mediate.

Under the present scenario, it will be interesting to see what role the central government plays as also the part chief minister Mamata Banerjee enacts, who, until now, has refused to buckle down even as the GJM has declared it would intensify its agitation going forward.(EOI)