The GJM chief also vowed to hold a massive rally despite in the Dooars despite a ban on public meetings.

Emerging from his second meeting with the CM in the past two weeks, an enraged Gurung seemed implacable as he refused to address the Kolkata media in either English, Bengali or Hindi, speaking instead in rapid-fire Nepali even as confused media persons looked on.

Wednesday’s meeting was primarily to get the Morcha to withdraw its hunger strike in which many of the protesters are said to be in a critical condition.

“We have decided to call for a total bandh in the Darjeeling Hills as well as the Terai and the Dooars on Saturday to protest the government’s atrocities against tribals and the Gorkhas. The state government once again denied us our democratic right to hold peaceful rallies and public meetings in the Dooars, which is one of our six demands,” Gurung, who is fluent in Hindi, said in Nepali.

A visibly enraged Gurung, who led a seven-member delegation into the meeting which included three tribal leaders from the Dooars, blamed the CPM-led Left Front government for “creating divides between the Gorkhas and tribals” and misleading the tribals into opposing the GJM.

“We are with our adivasi brothers, but the LF government is antagonising them both in Lalgarh and in the Dooars. We protest the loss of lives in Lalgarh, where the CPM is trying to suppress the tribals,” he said. Gurung also said over the next 15 days, the GJM would be mobilising several lakhs of people in a massive rally in the Dooars, despite the state government’s ban on public meetings.

Earlier, at a press conference, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri sprung a surprise appearing in the company of three tribal leaders and announcing he had travelled to Ranchi to hold talks with Jharkhand tribal leaders.

“We have met tribal leaders there, where we came to know that the ABAVP, which is leading the tribals’ protest in the Dooars, is not their genuine voice. Tribals in the Dooars want to be part of Gorkhaland. The LF has misled the tribals into believing that the Gorkhas want to grab their territory,” Giri said.

Rajesh Tigga, one of the tribal leaders, said his community back the Gorkhaland demand. “Those who claim to be tribal leaders, including ABAVP state president Birsa Tirkey, are acting at the CPM’s behest. The Dooars tribals want to separate from Bengal,” Tigga said.