Day 82: Pocket in foothills defies GJM strike diktat

Deep Gazmer | TNN | Sep 5, 2017, DARJEELING: Shops opened and vehicles ferried passengers on Monday in the lower reaches of the Hills, at Panighata in Mirik subdivision, 30 km from Siliguri town, in the first signs of normality trying to make a tentative return to the Hills, shut down by an indefinite strike since June 15.

Panighata is only one small pocket in the two districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, where agitators have been clamouring for a separate Gorkhaland state, and there is a risk of reading too much into this one place coming back to life after 81 days of lockdown. But Panighata is also significant — it is the same place where GJM supporters laid a siege on state tourism minister Gautam Deb's convoy on July 13 — and the changing public mood here could be an index of GJM chief Bimal Gurung's flagging support, especially in the foothills.

Panighata traders and shopkeepers defied the GJM diktat against withdrawing the strike after a meeting between the Trinamool (Hills) president, Rajen Mukhia, and the block administration. "We support the Gorkhaland cause and have endured the strike for nearly three months. But we have families to feed and look after. We have run out of cash and cannot continue with the shutdown any longer," a grocer said. A few state and private buses also operated at intervals with police escort, ferrying passengers to Siliguri and other plains areas.

"We request the traders to open shop and start business from Tuesday. The bandh is entering its eighty-second day but what have we achieved from it? We also request the picketeers to maintain peace and allow normal life to resume," Trinamool-run Mirik Municipality chairman L B Rai said. Police backed up efforts to lift the strike by rounding up GJM's Mirik town committee spokesperson Ritesh Gupta and party worker Narayan Prasad, both accused in the July attack on the minister's convoy. Some, however, complained that Trinamool supporters with police backing had forced open the shops. "We have beefed up security to avert any untoward incident," a police officer said.

The dominant mood in Mirik reflects what expelled GJM leader Binay Tamang said at a public rally in Kurseong soon after he returned from the peace talks in Kolkata last week. With the GNLF and some other Hills constituents siding with Tamang, who also enjoys the state government's backing now, old-timers see this development as a turning point in Hills politics and draw a parallel with developments 10 years ago when GJM convenor Bimal Gurung took over the reins of the movement from GNLF supremo Subash Ghising.

Tamang will soon hold a meeting in Darjeeling to reinfirce the change that has begun in Panighata and parts of Kurseong though other parts of the Hills seem to be with Gurung. But, whatever the outcome, a section of educated youths seem to be losing faith in the official GJM leadership after Gurung himself has supported dialogue with the state government after showing Tamang the door.

Tamang loyalists, along with the GNLF, are taking advantage of the organisational void to spread their network in the Hills though Gurung still appears to shape majority public opinion in the Hills despite being on the run and many of his supporters being in police custody. Gurung has by his side the CPRM, which has decided to continue with the strike. "We will continue to support the Gorkhaland movement and the strike. But the movement should not be bogged down by infighting among GJM leaders. We want the GJM to settle their issues at the earliest. We can only think of lifting the strike if the central government initiates tripartite talks," CPRM spokesperson Govind Chhetri said.

GJM leaders, at a public meeting at Chowkbazar on Monday, announced continuation of the strike and warned shopkeepers and vehicle owners against efforts to break it.