Bharati fast for Morcha arrests

Bharati Tamang in Darjeeling on
Thursday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, June 11: Bharati Tamang today said she would begin an indefinite fast from Sunday until the top Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders accused in her husband Madan Tamang's murder are arrested.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Democratic Front in Darjeeling today.

The front is a conglomeration of the ABGL, which Bharati heads, the CPRM, GNLF and Sikkim-Darjeeling Ekikaran Manch.

The CPM, which attended the front's first public meeting, today clarified that the party was not a part of the front.

Sankar Hang Subba, the spokesman for the front, said: "During the meeting, we have decided to hold a public meeting in Darjeeling in a few days, preferably on Saturday or Sunday. It has also been decided that Bharati Tamang will sit on a fast-unto-death from Sunday in Darjeeling. If the public meeting is held on Sunday, she will launch the fast after that."

Subba said the hunger strike would probably be organised at Chowrasta, Darjeeling famous promenade.

The CBI has chargesheeted 23 Morcha leaders and activists, including party chief Bimal Gurung, Roshan Giri and Harka Bahadur Chhetri, in the Madan Tamang case.

The accused have denied the charge and applied for anticipatory bail in Calcutta High Court.

Madan Tamang, then president of the ABGL, was hacked to death at Upper Clubside in Darjeeling on May 10, 2010, while he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting that Morcha activists had repeatedly stopped him from holding.

Pratap Khati, the general secretary of the ABGL and a lawyer, today said: "As of now, there is no stay on the arrest of those named in the chargesheet. We appeal to the CBI to immediately arrest all the accused. We have already written to the CBI on the matter."

Senior high court lawyers said that according to norms followed by investigating agencies, arrests were not made till anticipatory bail pleas pertaining to a particular case were disposed of.

Bharati, 69, who also attended the meeting at the CPRM office in Darjeeling, said: "I will sit on the hunger strike alone. My husband was killed brutally and I will continue my fight for justice."

The front today invited other parties and individuals to join it. "We are informally in touch with other parties and individuals who believe in democracy and they are welcome to join us," said R.B. Rai, former Darjeeling MP and the president of the CPRM.

Saman Pathak, former Darjeeling MP and CPM district secretariat member, however, said: "We will always support movements for restoration of democracy. A day after the gruesome killing, our party had organised protest marches in many districts of the state. However, we do not think that a front needs to be formed with the sole agenda of pursuing the Madan Tamang case when the matter is sub judice. We are not a part of the front but we will continue to support the cause."

Khati, however, said: "If they (CPM) are not with us, then they are with the Morcha."