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A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha delegation in Delhi today met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram who reportedly assured them the Gorkhaland issue would be put on a “fast track” and all the stakeholders in the tripartite meet scheduled to be held in Darjeeling on December 21 would be engaged to find an amicable solution. The delegation included Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh.
The union home minister is said to have urged the GJM leadership not to go for agitations that may disrupt normal life. The Gorkha leadership said the GJM’s central leadership and its president Bimal Gurung will decide on the request. “There will be no let-up in the agitation already declared,” said Roshan Giri, a GJM general secretary and its spokesperson who was part of the team that met the union home minister today in Delhi.
The GJM is said to have argued before the home minister that if the Centre could consider the Telangana demand, it could certainly concede their demand as well. The delegation told Chidambaram that the demand for Gorkhaland is one of the oldest in the country and the Centre should concede it simultaneously with Telengana.
The team members said the Hill people in Darjeeling would not settle for anything short of a separate state this time. Autonomy, Hill Council and other formats for a solution will not work this time, they said. “We had a very bad experience staying with Bengal. We do not want to live with it any more,” said Giri, adding the same has been communicated to the home minister.
Meanwhile, the fast-unto-death by groups of 21 people each began at five places, including three Darjeeling sub-visions from today. There were reportedly some initial differences among the Hill leaders, a section of whom wanted the Morcha leaders should sit on fast like KCR of Andhra Pradesh and not ordinary people but they were sorted out.
In Coochbehar district, the Separate State Demand Committee, (SSDC) comprising nine outfits held an emergency meeting today and decided to begin a fast-unto-death from tomorrow to be taken up by 11 members.
Asutosh Barma, president of the Greater Coochbehar Democratic Party, said the demand for a separate state of Kamtapur or Coochbehar was a legitimate one. An SSDC team had also been sitting at dharna near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for the past four-and-a-half years without the Union home minister giving any assurance. With the announcement about Telengana, the SSDC members felt “ignored and humiliated”. “We are going to launch a greater agitation, beginning with the fast-unto-death from tomorrow,” said B Barman, a spokesman for the SSDC.
The Adivasi Vikas Parishad - an organization of tribals largely concentrated in the Darjeeling foothills and the Dooars region, has convened an emergency meeting on Sunday to decide on the course of action to be taken. The outfit has been opposed to the creation of separate Gorkhaland state. The state government, meanwhile, may not participate in the tripartite talks to be held in Darjeeling on December 21 if the GJM indulged in violence. Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said today that the administration was taking all measures to tackle the situation. The GJM has also called for a 96-hour bandh from December 14. “Their agitation has been peaceful so far and no untoward incident has taken place. For the hunger strike, we have made arrangements for medical teams. But if the GJM indulges in any violent activity, we will have to rethink our participation in the talks,” Sen said.
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Good reason to follow suit, apt and timely, but alas if only seperatism works in AP. Where was the language based state formation pioneered from. The initiative was a good free lions share for other regions to copycat after the great sacrifice from AMARAJEEEVI POTTI SREERAMULU. Good heavens, free of cost, free of sacrifice and bandwagon mentalities, got states one after another with MODEL state AP, but still due to unable to pronounce TELUGU its called ThelGhee even today. To heck with separatism and copycats, bandwagon masters to imbibe upon Telugus. Fight your own war without coincidenting for your favor, then you realize the hardships and sacrifices.