The Democratic Front, a conglomeration of four political
parties in the hills, today alleged that police were acting in a
partisan manner as they had not prevented the Trinamul tea garden trade
union from carrying out a relay hunger strike.
The leaders of the Front have alleged that when Bharati Tamang, the
widow of former ABGL chief Madan Tamang, had started a fast-unto-death
on June 14 at Chowrasta to demand the arrest of 23 leaders of the Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha, including Bimal Gurung, senior police officials had
reached the spot and requested her to lift the hunger strike. An empty
police bus was also sent to Chowrasta.
Trinamul's trade union, Darjeeling Zilla Tea Employees' and Workers'
Union, launched a relay hunger strike at Upper Clubside here from
yesterday demanding the fulfilment of a set of demands pertaining to the
closed Pussimbing tea estate in Darjeeling.
The spot where Bharati Tamang sat on a fast-unto-death at Chowrasta
on June 14 and the venue where Trinamul supporters are sitting on a
relay hunger strike are about 500 meters apart.
"There is no doubt that there are two sets of rules in the hills. One
is for those who are in power, and other for those who are not with
them. Cases have been slapped on us when we proceeded to go for an
indefinite hunger strike," said Pratap Khati, the convener of the Front.
"We are filing a writ petition in Calcutta High Court tomorrow
against slapping cases on us. All these instances will be mentioned in
the petition," he said. Bharati had withdrawn the fast on June 16.
Amit P. Javalgi, the superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said: "We
had started cases for taking out a procession without permission. As far
as the hunger strike is concerned, we requested them, as it is a matter
of someone's life. We will request all not to go on a hunger strike."(TT)
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