People elated with state govt for breaking bandh

SNS, Siliguri, 13 August : Although several Opposition political leaders and some intellectuals have criticised the chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee for the crackdown on the Gorkhaland movement in the Darjeeling Hills, the common people in the plains have sounded elated with the state government having broken the indefinite shutdown by baton, albeit for a few days. 

The GJMM spearheading the statehood movement is supposed to have backed down on the indefinite strike under pressure being mounted by the state government and the chief minister, in particular. 

The party relaxed the bandh for a few days to enable the people to collect provisions. 

According to a private bus conductor, Mr Sankar Saha, the chief minister has won the heart of the common people in the plains. 

“Hit where it hurts, the GJMM is now on the run. The state government has done the right thing in using the baton to break the indefinite strike,” he said. 

“The previous government did nothing when faced with similar situations. It preferred to be passive, allowing the GJMM to run amok. We are happy with the present government for having restored the rule of law in the Hills where anarchy became the norms,” he added. 

A trader doing business on Siliguri-Jalpaiguri road, Mr Simanta Das, said the chief minister has proved that she is sensitive regarding the suffering of the common people in the Hills being crushed under the wheels of the statehood juggernaut. 

“By her timely action, she has endeared herself both to the people of the Hills as well as the plains,” she said. 

“She succeeded in crushing the Maoist menace in the Junglemahal and now she has repeated the same feat in the Darjeeling Hills,” he further said. 

A salesman by profession, Mr Timir Roy, said the state government has brought home the point that it would not brook the GJMM inciting the Hill people in the name of the ever elusive statehood. “The leaders of the GJMM are upset. 

They have got no positive response from Delhi thanks to Mamata Banerjee’s stringent stance on the statehood issue,” he said. A rickshaw-puller residing in Siliguri, Mr Bachchu Das, said the state government’s action has helped him a great deal. 

“I earn my living mainly through carrying Nepali-speaking passengers coming from the Hills,” he said. “I kept on suffering because of the dragging bandh in the Hills. Now I hope the situation will turn up,” he added.”

(Courtesy &  source:http://www.thestatesman.net/news/10280-people-elated-with-state-govt-for-breaking-bandh.html)