Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party member, currently an independent Member of Parliament from West Bengal's Darjeeling, Jaswant Singh on Monday found support from an unexpected quarter -- Leader of Opposition and BJP senior leader L K Advani.Singh had raised the issue of the hunger strike by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders in his constituency for a separate Gorkhaland state and sought support from both the treasury bench and the Opposition.
The ruling Left Front and the opposition Trinamool Congress and the Congress on Friday united against the demand by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha for a separate Gorkhaland on the lines of Telangana. "We don't want division of Bengal," Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, said in Delhi.
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.
Subhas Ghising has been called to New Delhi for tripartite talks.
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.
A 48-hour bandh is being observed in North Bengal to oppose the tripartite agreement to be signed on Monday to pave the way for setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the new hill council in Darjeeling. The shutdown has been called by plains-based organisations Amra Bangali, Jana Jagaran and Jana Chetana to protest the move.Private cars and buses remained off the roads and shops and markets were closed in Siliguri.
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.
Over ten Gorkha Janmukti supporters were arrested when they burnt a motorcycle and a car at Rambi on the National Highway near, as a three-day bandh demanding Gorkhaland began in the Darjeeling hills in West Bengal on Monday.
While a group led by Binay Tamang wants to end the shutdown, the mainstream GJM, led by its supremo Bimal Gurung, wants the status quo to continue, reports Avishek Rakshit.
Six members of Gorkha Janmukti Morch were arrested on Sunday for stopping the vehicle of the superintendent of police during the bandh in Darjeeling hills.
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.
Geopolitical headwinds leading to lower demand from export markets, coupled with lower domestic buying, have dragged the auction average of Darjeeling tea to its lowest level since 2015. Data from Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) shows that the average price of Darjeeling tea at Kolkata auctions for January-December 2023 was Rs 319.74 per kg. The last time it dipped below this level was in 2015 at Rs 285.71 per kg.
In the last three years, 20 gardens have changed hands, and 90 per cent of the buyers are from non-tea background.
Amid demands for a separate state carved out of Bengal by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that she is ready to shed her own blood, if need be, to thwart attempts to divide the state.
Unless the anarchy in Manipur is brought under control quickly, we are sowing the seeds of a flare up in the entire North East and the end of our dream of checking China in South East Asia, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
The statehood issue and implementation of the sixth schedule of the Constitution have been the major demands in the hills since the beginning of the protracted Gorkhaland movement in 1986.
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.
The army was called in Siliguri and adjacent areas on Thursday in view of fresh tension arising out of Darjeeling crisis. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has called an all-party meeting on June 17 to discuss the Darjeeling crisis, arising out of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand for separate Gorkhaland state.
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.
Tamang said, "All schools in Darjeeling will be given relaxation for 12 hours on June 23 to evacuate students from the city."
Bowing to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand, the West Bengal government on Wednesday said it will seek from the Centre a tripartite meeting to resolve the Darjeeling crisis in a few days.
Protesters also burnt effigies of Banerjee and vowed to continue their fight for Gorkhaland.
Gurung vowed to support the TMC in the 2021 Bengal assembly elections.
Opposition parties on Tuesday decried the GJM for raising the Gorkhaland demand before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a government programme, with the Communist Party of India-Marxist accusing the Trinamool Congress of having created a 'Frankenstein'.
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.
Most of the coded signals and communications were in Nepali and Tibetan languages.
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 said she will never agree to a division of the state even as the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha insisted that it has not given up its demand for separate Gorkhaland.
Scanty rainfall, last year's lockdown, growing competition from Nepal and the disaster of the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation are steadily weakening exports and sales of Darjeeling tea.
The first month of the new Mamata Banerjee ministry in West Bengal saw fast paced progress on two contentious issues -- the return of land to unwilling farmers of Singur and setting aside of the Gorkhaland demand for a bipartite agreement on Darjeeling.
It was the state government which has violated human rights and slapped false cases against the GJM, he claimed.
Gurung is worth his weight in gold to the BJP which is trying hard to make inroads in West Bengal
With the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha renewing the demand for Gorkhaland in Darjeeling following United Progressive Alliance unanimously endorsing creation of a separate Telangana state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday ruled out division of West Bengal and blamed the Congress for the agitation in the hills.
The indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling hills will be suspended from Wednesday morning.
Gorkhaland supporters called for a bandh in Darjeeling for their own state, while Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh threatened to resume the agitation for a separate Harit Pradesh, as the planned statehood for Telangana sparked fresh demands to create new states.
Hurling petrol bombs and stones, Gorkhaland supporters on Thursday fought pitched battles with police, who broke up protests, bursting teargas shells and baton-charging violent crowds, plunging Darjeeling hills into deeper turmoil.
Sharpening its attack on West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that his name figures in the Jain Hawala scandal, the Trinamool Congress said it will think of ways to step up the demand for his dismissal.
'Helpful neighbours, useful nuggets of information keep the people going as supplies run low.'
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