'GNLF slams GJMM ‘dual stance'

SNS, Kurseong, 6 February 2014: Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has questioned the recent statements made by Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) chief, Mr Bimal Gurung on development boards for ethnic communities, branding this as a glaring instance of double-speak.

Talking to reporters, the GNLF Kurseong branch spokesperson, Mr Daya Dewan said such swift swings of moods from compliance to belligerence lays bare the vulnerability of the status of the GJMM chief vis-a-vis the Hill and state politics.

“Sometimes he meekly supports such boards, while at others, he rails against it with flamboyant rhetoric evidently to retain his credibility with his party's rank and file and also with the people at large,” he said.

Mr Dewan referred to Mr Gurung having pilloried the state government on the matter of board formations yesterday, dubbing it a divisive ploy to splinter the unity of the Gorkha community into mutually warring factions.

“But one can hardly forget that the same man welcomed the formation of such development boards the other day, pinning hopes on them as locomotives of progress for the myriad sub-communities comprising the generic Gorkha community," he said, adding that GJMM must shed such double speak and firm up a principled stance on the sensitive matter.

Mr Dewan further demanded GJMM to make its stance clear on the ST status demand. "The party keeps demanding the Scheduled Tribe status for the Gorkha community as a whole except for the Chettri-Bahuns and the Scheduled Caste people. Such selective discrimination keeps spawning confusion among the people," he said, adding that by pitching for ST status GJMM is echoing the longstanding stance of the GNLF that has been striving under Subash Ghising for including the Hills under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.