GJM observes 'Black Sunday', no fresh clashes reported

MP | 18 Jun 2017 | Darjeeling, Thousands of protesters took out massive rallies on the streets in Darjeeling on Sunday amid tight security and army patrols to observe the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's 'black day' to protest the death of three Morcha activists in police firing.

Led by the GJM activists, the marchers carried the coffins of the three activists who were allegedly shot dead by the security personnel in Darjeeling's Singmari during the clashes on Saturday. 

However, there were no reports of fresh clashes between the agitators and the security forces on Sunday.

Bhutan was cut off owing to the 12-hour-GJM bandh in the Terai and Dooars areas.

Bimal Sashanker of Gok Bustee; Sunil Rai of Kainjaley and Mahesh Gurung of Relling had died allegedly due to police firing. A procession with the dead body of Sunil Rai was brought out in Kainjaley. Thousands of GJM supporters and local residents walked in a procession with the dead body of Bimal Sashanker in Darjeeling shouting pro-Gorkhaland slogans. There was heavy state and Central forces deployment but they stood in the backdrop allowing the procession to pass by peacefully. Mahesh Gurung's body arrived in the evening from Siliguri.

The 12-hour bandh call by the GJM in the Terai and Dooars evoked mixed response. However, with the GJM supporters squatting on the road at Dalsingpara area near Jaigaon in Alipurduar district, Bhutan remained cut off during the bandh. There was heavy police deployment in Dooars as well. "We feel let down by the BJP and the NDA. We are being used like pawns," stated Amar Singh Rai, GJM MLA of Darjeeling Assembly constituency. Incidentally, the GJM are an ally of the BJP and twice in 2009 and again in 2014 BJP candidates backed by the GJM had emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha elections from the Darjeeling Parliamentary constituency.

During both the elections the BJP had issued addendums to the party elections manifesto stating that they would sympathetically examine the long pending demands of the Gorkhas. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the election campaigns, had even said that the dream of the Gorkhas is his dream. However, not much has transpired," stated Rai.

The GJM even wanted the Centre's intervention in the ongoing impasse. "They have failed to intervene till now," stated Rai. The Darjeeling MLA stated that the GJM would not hold talks with the state but would discuss with the Centre on the one-point agenda of Gorkhaland only. Meanwhile, in the wee hours on Sunday morning, the Panchayat office at Alley in Gorubathan and another at Dalim, both the Gorubathan were torched. The healthcentre housed in the same building as the Dalim Gram Panchayat office was also damaged.

Meanwhile, in the wee hours on Sunday morning, the Panchayat office at Alley in Gorubathan and another at Dalim, both the Gorubathan were torched. The healthcentre housed in the same building as the Dalim Gram Panchayat office was also damaged.

Holding aloft the Tricolour, GJM youth members led the rally from Chawk Bazar, the famous lower market area on the Hill cart Road in Darjeeling and shouted pro-Gorkhaland slogans. Shouts of "Police go back" and "Gorkhaland-Gorkhaland" reverberated through the picturesque hills of Darjeeling as some Gorkha activists claimed the protest has shifted from the political to the commoners' movement in the hills.

Scenes across Darjeeling and nearby Ghoom resembled a battlefield with charred buses and police vehicles, and bricks strewn on the road. At least four vehicles, including three of the police, were torched while eight vehicles were vandalised.

The officials claimed that nearly 36 of the security personnel were injured while trying to contain the violence, and denied that they opened fire at the protesters. With agency inputs

(Source & Courtesy: http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/kolkata-247872)