Axe on Bharati for attending govt meet

Bharati Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Oct. 8: The central committee of the ABGL today suspended party president Bharati Tamang, the wife of the late Madan Tamang, for three months for attending a meeting with the Bengal government in defiance of a decision.

Apart from Bharati, three other ABGL leaders - Laxman Pradhan, Biplav Rai and Pritivi Raj Subba - were suspended. All the four had attended the meeting convened by the state government with Darjeeling parties on September 12.

"The party had decided not to attend the meeting but Bharati Tamang, Laxman Pradhan, Biplav Rai and Pritivi Raj Subba went there. This was construed by the central committee as anti-party activity," said Pratap Khati, the general secretary of the ABGL.

Sources said Bharati's suspension was restricted to three months "keeping in mind the late Madan Tamang's contribution to the Gorkhaland cause and the party".

Pradhan has been suspended for three years, while the other two leaders have been suspended from the ABGL for a year each.

"A two-member fact-finding committee had issued a showcause notice to the four leaders on September 20. Today, a central committee meeting was held but Bharati Tamang and Laxman Pradhan did not turn up. The other two leaders who attended the session could not provide any satisfactory explanation," said Khati.

The two-member panel's report was placed before the central committee today. Of the 31 members at the committee, 18 were present at the meeting chaired treasurer Gazendra Ramudamu today.

Khati said Pradhan had been suspended on charges of instigating the other leaders to attend the meeting with the government and indulging in financial irregularities.

None of the four suspended leaders could be reached for comment.

The ABGL is the oldest political party in the hills. Even though it does not command mass support at the moment, it was the principal party before the rise of Subash Ghisingh's Gorkha National Liberation Front in 1986.

Despite lacking popular support, Madan Tamang, the slain president of the ABGL, was largely credited with mobilising public opinion against bringing the Darjeeling hills under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Madan was murdered in Darjeeling on May 21, 2010, by suspected Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters.

After Madan's death, his wife Bharati, a former state government employee, was made the ABGL's president. Even though Bharati was not politically active, she was credited for keeping the party flocks together.
(Source & Courtesy: https://www.telegraphindia.com/1171009/jsp/bengal/story_176930.jsp)