Festivities over: TMC and GJM prepare for rivalry in the Hills

HT, 5 Nov 2016, DARJEELING: With festivities over, the political parties in the Hills are all set to hit the streets. Both the Trinamool Congress and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have lined up rallies later this month.

“There will be a number of padyatras starting from different locations. The padyatras will start on November 9 and will all converge in Darjeeling town on November 11 where we will hold a massive rally. We have invited Mamata Banerjee to attend. TMC leaders Gautam Deb and Arup Biswas will also be present,” said Rajen Mukhia, TMC president, Darjeeling district (Hills) committee.

Padyatras will commence from Lalimpong-Pedong-Kafer, Rimbik-Dhajey, Mirik-Ghayabari, Sukna-Nirpani, Gorubathan, Maneybhanjyang, Singla, Lebong and Mongpu.

“The rally in Darjeeling is in demand of an inquiry into the widespread corruption into the GJM-run Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and the four municipalities, security of minority communities residing in the Hills, land documents for tea garden and cinchona plantation dwellers and implementation of Minimum Wages Act for tea garden workers,” added Mukhia.

Meanwhile, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is also gearing up to hold rallies. The series of rallies will be flagged off from Mirik on November 6; Kalimpong on November 13; Kurseong on November 20; Darjeeling on November 27 and Sukna on December 4.

The parliamentary session starts on November 16. “The GJM will launch a political programme in Delhi from December 9 to December 16.

“The rallies are to educate the masses on the need for an agitation and how the state government has been exploiting us and has launched a divide and rule policy by forming different development boards to dilute the Gorkhaland demand,” said Roshan Giri, general secretary, GJM.