With the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha having relaxed the indefinite bandh to demand Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills for four days from Independence day, its President Bimal Gurung said on Tuesday that the 'agitation' would be continued from August 19.
According to the GJM leaders, the breather was given from 6 pm on Sunday following requests of some Union ministers to enable school students to finish their term before summer vacations begin from June 25.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has pledged that the BJP will prioritise resolving the Gorkha issue in Darjeeling and withdraw cases against community leaders if elected in West Bengal. He criticised Mamata Banerjee's government for non-cooperation and assured a constitutional solution.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed poll rallies in West Bengal, promising to resolve the Gorkha issue constitutionally and offering a development package for north Bengal if the BJP is voted to power.
A day after the signing of the tripartite agreement on Darjeeling, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung on Tuesday said its original demand for Gorkhaland still stands.
GJM president Bimal Gurung has been holding meetings in Darjeeling district claiming that none could resist the formation of Gorkhaland, while urging partymen in the plains in the Dooars to ensure that the government assessment team returned convinced that people there area wanted to be under the new hill council.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Friday said the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the new hill council to run the administration in the Darjeeling hills, is a step towards achievement of Gorkhaland, an indication that they are not going back on their demand for a separate state.
Hours ahead of the second-phase strike, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung on Monday sought intervention of the Centre for resolving the crisis in the Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal.
Official-level talks on Gorkhaland has failed to make a headway owing to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's insistence on discussing the territorial jurisdiction of the proposed interim authority.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday complimented West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung for making the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement possible.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday said it was no longer interested in holding talks with the West Bengal government on Gorkhaland issue and was awaiting tripartite talks in Delhi.
"Nothing short of Gorkhaland is now acceptable for the morcha. No discussion on interim set-up anymore," Gurung told media persons after the GJM meeting at Kumani, on the border of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Thursday asked the government to consider its demand for a Gorkhaland state if it takes into consideration creation of a separate Telangana.
Darjeeling Member of Parliament and expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh raised the demand for creation of Gorkhaland state in the Lok Sabha, on Monday, saying the people of the region were already "emotionally separated" from rest of West Bengal.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Tuesday put aside its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland and agreed to a new hill council with more autonomy in a bipartite agreement signed with the West Bengal government, signalling an end of the 15-year-old movement in Darjeeling.
With the Gorkhaland agitation going slow following strong measures taken by the administration, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Friday held out an olive branch to the West Bengal government, saying it wanted to clear 'misunderstandings' with it.
The meeting was attended by the GJM, the GNLF, the Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha, the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (apolitical) and the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists.
The unrest in the hills has led to the tea sector losing its entire second flush, and Rs 200 crore of its annual earnings.
The Justice Shyamal Sen Committee has been urged to submit its report -- on the issue of the inclusion of Dooars and Terai areas in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration -- by early June, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said on Saturday. "A resolution to this effect has been passed after a meeting between a seven-member Gorkha Janmukti Morcha delegation led by its president Bimal Gurung and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.
Going back on its call for an indefinite shut down in Darjeeling in view of the Eid festival, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday announced a four-day bandh from Saturday to demand a separate Gorkhaland.
A home guard was set on fire in Darjeeling town on Friday where incidents of arson were reported on the eve of the indefinite bandh called in the hills to demand a separate state of Gorkhaland on the lines of Telangana.
Around 2,000 Gorkha Muslims staged a protest march supporting the Gorkha Jamukti Morcha cause.
Normal life was disrupted for the second day on Tuesday due to the 72-hour bandh called in the Darjeeling hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand Gorkhaland.
The fourth round of tripartite talks on Gokhaland issue on Monday failed to come to an agreement in the absence of a consensus and the organisation spearheading the movement for a separate state has sought political dialogue at the next round of talks within 45 days.
Stating that the GJM was seeking appointment with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, Gurung told PTI from Darjeeling that a delegation, comprising GJM central committee members, would meet MPs of different political parties.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has said it is satisfied with the positive dialogue its delegation had with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and hoped it will pave the way for early tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue."We are expecting tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue soon as the dialogue with Mukherjee was positive," GJM press secretary Benoy Tamang said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that Darjeeling Hills would remain part of West Bengal, even as a section of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters raised slogans demanding a separate state, during the inauguration of the North Bengal Festival. "Let us remain together. Darjeeling is part of Bengal and we will remain together," Banerjee said.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is fighting for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills, has warned that it will unilaterally form 'Gorkhaland' if the next round of tripartite talks scheduled in December failed to deliver "justice".
The historic tripartite agreement for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was on Monday signed to resolve the vexed Darjeeling problem amidst protests and bandhs in the Terai and Dooars areas.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former president M Venkiah Naidu on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to move a resolution for the creation of Telangana state in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, saying smaller states could be better administered.He added that the demand for Harit Pradesh in western Uttar Pradesha, raised by Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh, and Gorkhaland in West Bengal raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, will be strengthened.
All India Gorkha League president and Gorkhaland proponent Madan Tamang was seriously injured after being attacked with sharp weapons by unidentified assailants in Darjeeling town on Friday.
Centre agreed to repeal the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha fighting for a separate Gorkhaland state on Tuesday.
A 96-hour bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Monday to press for Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills has been withdrawn.GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Delhi that the decision was taken after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley urged that the shutdown be called off for a normal situation to prevail before the tripartite talks begin in Darjeeling on December 21.However, the indefinite fast will continue.
The Centre on Saturday sought to downplay the growing momentum for carving out of small states in some regions after the decision on Telangana and said cooperation of (undivided) states and political parties is needed in addressing such demands.
'When I look at the faces of people around me, they have a certain energy, as if unemployment, food scarcity and infrastructural breakdown are small sacrifices for our agitation for Gorkhaland,' a Gorkha based in Delhi tells Geetanjali Krishna.
Tempers ran high over Gorkhaland issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday with a Trinamool Congress member attacking senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh for making a strong plea for a political solution to the issue but later expressed regret.
Gurung vowed to support the TMC in the 2021 Bengal assembly elections.
Tamang said, "All schools in Darjeeling will be given relaxation for 12 hours on June 23 to evacuate students from the city."
Government is unlikely to set up another States Reorganisation Commission to look into the growing demands for creation of separate states in different parts of the country.
The indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling hills will be suspended from Wednesday morning.
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