North Bengal outfits regroup for a separate state

TNN | Updated: Jan 19, 2017,JALPAIGURI: Two weeks after Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung's meeting with Kamtapur People's Party (KPP) general secretary Subhas Burman on January 4 over proposals to initiate parallel movements in the Hills and seven districts of north Bengal, a warning from the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) has sent ripples among the Bengali- and Hindi-speaking people in Siliguri, Alipurduar and Balurghat. In a press release, the KLO has asked all such people to leave the place by March 31 this year.
The threat gains importance after the GJM-KPP talks in a bid to reclaim the old Kamtapur spread over Malda, South and North Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, apart from Assam and Tripura, where the sons of soil have become a minority.
Intelligence sources said the GJM president held the meeting with former KLO militants Milton Burma and Harshavardhan in Darjeeling to chalk out the course of action. The KLO has issued the "ultimatum" in retaliation to the attack on a peaceful demonstration of indigenous people on August 23 last year, by the Bengali Hindu refugees in Tripura.
GJM and Rajbanshi outfits, namely KLO and KPP, have been fighting a lone battle. The situation may turn worse if Gurung joins hands with KPP and KLO, feel experts. They fear this would stoke the fire among the Nepali people in Dooars who are unhappy with the government's leaving out this area from the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.