Former leader and ex-councillor of DGHC rejoins GNLF

SNS, Kurseong, 17 November 2013: Former GNLF leader and ex-councillor of DGHC, Mr I N Pradhan, rejoined the GNLF on Friday.
He also addressed a meeting at Ghayabari in Kurseong. He accused the GJMM of indulging in corruption.
Mr Pradhan, once known as a close confidante of Mr Subash Ghising, had dissociated himself from the realm of politics after the GJMM ascended on the political space of the Hills in 2008.
He had remained busy with his poultry farm.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Pradhan said that public money to the tune of crores are being either squandered or embezzled by the GJMM leaders and the GTA members.
He cited 100 days’ work as an instance where development funds are being wantonly siphoned off.
Referring to Gorkhaland, he said the GJMM has betrayed the cause.
“They must explain why they hounded us out of the Hills, charging us with betraying the cause. We took the humiliation in our stride, believing that the GJMM would achieve something positive in the direction of Gorkhaland. But now the time has come when they must explain why they have betrayed the cause of statehood,” he said.
He further said the GJMM must also explain why they are now demanding Scheduled Tribe status for all the Hill communities. “This is a demand we raised a long time ago,” he said, adding that the Hills must be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution with the unconstitutional GTA being discarded.
“Mr Ghising is set to address a public meeting at the Monteviot ground in Kurseong on 6 December. He would explain the current drift of the Hill situation to the people that day,” Mr Pradhan said.
The GNLF observes 6 December as Sixth Schedule Day to mark the memorandum of settlement being signed that day on, including the DGHC under the tribal-specific schedule of the Constitution.