12-hour bandh in Dooars today

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya , TNN, Jun 23, 2013,JALPAIGURI: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parshad (ABAVP) does not want to compromise with the peace in Dooars and Terai. The party has called a 12-hour bandh on Sunday to stop Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung from holding a public meeting at Dooars. 

"After a long time there is peace in the region. If the GJM leaders are allowed to hold the public meeting they will again raise the Gorkhaland issue, making situation tense here," said Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of ABAVP's Dooars-Terai regional unit. 

It is known that GJM in alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (the John Barla faction) has fielded candidates in many Nepali pockets for panchayat polls and hence the party leadership wants senior leaders, including Bimal Gurung, to hold public meetings to gain back confidence of the Nepali populace. 

To stop Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung from holding a public meeting in the Dooars, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parshad (ABAVP) has called a 12-hour bandh in the tea belt on Sunday. 

The decision was taken on Saturday in a meeting held at Nagrakata. This is a strategy, claim tribal leaders, to stop the Hills party from holding a meeting in the Dooars and again igniting the issue of Gorkhaland in the plains. 

Gurung, presently is in Jaigaon where he came on Friday with the intention to hold a public meeting ahead of the panchayat polls on Sunday. 

The party in alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (the John Barla faction) has fielded candidates in many Nepali pockets and hence the party leadership wants senior leaders including Bimal Gurung to hold public meetings. 

Of late the Hills party has suffered major jolt in the tea belt with thousands of GJM supporters ditching the party and joining parties like Trinamool and Congress. The GJM leadership wants to gain back the confidence of the Nepali populace by holding meetings in the Dooars ahead of the panchayat polls. 

Following the bandh called by the ABAVP, Roshan Giri, the general secretary of GJM has said that they won't leave Dooars unless they are given the permission to hold the meeting. 

"Our leaders are not going to leave Dooars unless we are given the permission to hold the meeting," he said. 

Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of ABAVP's Dooars Terai Regional Unit, meanwhile has made it clear that under no circumstances the GJM leaders from Darjeeling would be allowed to hold public meeting in the Dooars. 

"After a long time there is peace in the region. We won't let that suffer under any circumstances. If the GJM leaders are allowed to hold the public meeting they will again raise the Gorkhaland issue making situation tense here," he said. 

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri had earlier said they would knock the door of the state election commission if required. 

"This is an election campaign and no force can stop us from accessing our democratic right," he had said. 

According to sources the Jalpaiguri district administration did not provide the Hills party with any sort of permission to hold the meeting. 

"We did not receive any application from their end seeking permission to hold any meeting. So there is no question of allowing them to hold the meeting," a senior official said.