No rest till talks start: Hills panel

Jayanta Gupta & Deep Gazmer | TNN |  Aug 5, 2017, DARJEELING/KOLKATA: Pro-Gorkhaland activists didn't relent from the warpath against governments on Friday even as they paid heed to BJP minister and Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia's accepting the memorandum of the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) members in Delhi on Friday.

"It's too small a gain for the 51-day pain. We are not going to rest until the Centre initiates a dialogue for Gorkhaland," said GJM central committee member Ramesh Ale. Instead, the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha leaders stepped up the pressure on the Centre saying that the situation in the Hills may turn worse from August 9 if the Centre doesn't start the talks.

However, for the remaining five days, the GJM won't be taking a violent stance which the Centre could cite as a hurdle to initiate the dialogue. On Friday, while the GMCC members went on a one-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, GJM supporters in Darjeeling took out a rally from Darjeeling railway station to Chowkbazar in support of the youth activists who have been on hunger strike since July 21.

On Saturday, Buddhist monks have planned a peace rally in Darjeeling and on Sunday, pro-Gorkhaland supporters will form a human chain from Lebong to the other end of Darjeeling.

In Kolkata, all the three GJM MLAs — Amar Singh Rai, Rohit Sharma and Sarita Rai — have decided to stay away from the monsoon session of the Bengal assembly. When asked if they were boycotting the assembly, Darjeeling MLA Amar Singh Rai said: "We are not calling it a boycott. We are staying away to empathize with the Hills people who have been continuing with the indefinite strike for the last 50 days. We have some responsibility towards the people of our constituency." He added that he would explain their position to assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee.

The hardliners among the Hills parties are marking time to take the reins of the agitation ahead of the final battle. It has come up as a bother for these parties because they fear bloodshed in the days to come if the dialogue process doesn't work out.
(Source & Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/no-rest-till-talks-start-hills-panel/articleshow/59922137.cms)