Intensifying their efforts to hold tripartite talks on their demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Friday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee asking him to take an initiative in the matter.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
In addition to that, 68 people still remain missing, with 100 more sustaining injuries in the disaster.
Nicol Tamang, main accused in the murder of All India Gorkha League president Madan Tamang, escaped from CID custody in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, police said. Tamang was arrested on August 16 and kept in CID custody at Pintal village near Siliguri after he was produced in Darjeeling district court the next day.
The indefinite shutdown forced by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha to protest against alleged police atrocities against its workers affected normal life in parts of West Bengal on Saturday.
Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung on Wednesday threatened to launch a militant agitation in the Darjeeling hills to press for the original demand for a Gorkhaland state, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee firmly ruled out any division of the state.
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.
Intensifying their efforts for statehood to Gorkhaland, leaders of Gorkha Janmmukti Morcha on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and urged him to take initiative for tripartite talks. "We have submitted a map of Gorkhaland to the home minister and urged him to take the initiative for tripartite talks comprising the Centre, the West Bengal government and the GJM," Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri told reporters after meeting Patil.
Giving a clarion call to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in West Bengal, the prime minister while addressing a mega rally in Siliguri said, "The road to oust the corrupt TMC government from West Bengal will open from the Lok Sabha polls."
Three Gorkha Rifles jawans were injured when a grenade in their truck went off in the high security Garhi Cantonment area in Dehradun on Saturday afternoon.
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
India on Tuesday enlarged its relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Nepal beyond Kathmandu to the worst-affected epicenter areas and rushed Gorkha soldiers to remote places to assess the kind of assistance required.
The West Bengal government arrested Binay Tamang, one of the top leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and a member of its central committee, around midnight on Wednesday.
India on Wednesday said it is focusing on Nepal's capital Kathmandu and the worst-affected Gorkha district for its rescue and relief efforts in the quake-hit country.
'...or go to jail.' 'The government is getting them silenced.'
'Helpful neighbours, useful nuggets of information keep the people going as supplies run low.'
The bodies of Havildar Rohit Kumar, Havildar Thakur Bahadur Ale and Naik Gautam Rajbanshi were trapped deep within a crevasse and lay buried under thick layers of ice and large volumes of snow for the past nearly nine months.
'China will do everything to hamper our ability to be a competitor.' 'China wants every country in the region to be subservient and we are the biggest stumbling block.'
'On October 12-13, he started shivering from fear in his tent.' 'That was the time he wrote a letter to my mother to conduct Ganeshji's Atharvashirsha.' 'The moment he finished writing that letter, he told us, he felt serene calmness.'
Popular doesn't always mean best. Here's why.
Glimpses from the Military Tattoo and Tribal Dance festival marking Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 126th birth anniversary at the JLN stadium in New Delhi on Monday, January 23, 2023.
Briefing reporters at his office, Army Day Parade Commander Major General Salil Seth said, "Artificial Intelligence is being used for the first time to identify the best marching contingent. As you know all the marching contingents do drills and do drills correctly."
'We failed as a country because those who should have been there to say goodbye did not show up.'
Darjeeling is on the boil over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state. June and July are bad months to have a strike. Tea picking during its most valuable season has been affected. Those consequences will be felt all over the world and ultimately damage Darjeeling tea.
For someone like me who studied Sam so intently, if a lump could form in the throat during the emotive scenes, I think the cast did a superb job, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Battalion Cadet Adjutant Praveen Singh, son of a printing press owner from Agra, wants to join the infantry and serve the country to the best of his ability.
The self-styled Sikh preacher continued to be on the run for a week now following the police crackdown against him and his Waris Punjab De outfit.
'The next war will be fought by China-Pakistan against India and we have to fully be prepared. We must read the writing on the wall.'
Sam Bahadur is a mechanical summary of his life, ticking off one chapter after another without bothering to pause or ponder over their significance and influences, observes Sukanya Verma.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to nominate Ananta Rai 'Maharaj', who has been demanding a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' to be carved out of West Bengal, as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state, has kicked off a fresh storm with the ruling Trinamool Congress accusing the saffron party of fanning separatism in the state.
'The Kuki-Zo are aware of this rich resource in their areas and feel the Meitei push for ST status is because of this reason'.
According to a senior police official, Amritpal and his aide Papalpreet Singh had allegedly stayed at the residence of Balbir Kaur in Patiala's Hargobind Nagar on March 19.
The 5th Battalion of the 1st Gorkha Rifles, on completion of its three-and-a-half years tenure as ceremonial Army Guard Battalion, handed over the charge to the 6th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment.
'I am grateful that this film has happened, it makes me so proud of the country and of the Indian Army.' Brandy Batliwala, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw's eldest grandchild, on the man behind the hero.
Besides his strategic and tactical acumen, it was his amazing personality, quick wit and ability to remain unflustered under any circumstances that stood him apart from almost any leader one has read about or known, recalls Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Mamata asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a review meeting in Moreh town of Manipur on Wednesday to take stock of the security situation in the northeastern state which has been witnessing sporadic violence for nearly a month.
Kritika and Tarini -- the late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat's daughters -- on Friday paid floral tributes to their parents at the general's official residence in New Delhi.
The exercise from September 1 to 7 is taking place at different locations in Russia's Far East amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
As CDS, General Chauhan's primary task will be to implement the theaterisation model to bring in tri-services synergy by rolling out integrated military commands.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances