Yuva Morcha to support Tamang - Shuffle likely in youth wing

Yuva Morcha leaders at the news conference in Darjeeling on Tuesday

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Oct. 10: The spokesperson of the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha today said 80 per cent of the organisation's leaders had decided to support Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa.

Arjun Chhetri, the Yuva Morcha spokesperson, also said that the party youth wing's members would be shuffled, leading to speculation if the organisation's chief Prakash Gurung, believed to be close to Bimal Gurung, would be removed.

The move is likely to deal another blow to Morcha president Gurung, who has been forced to go into hiding following several cases slapped against him by the government.

Political analysts pointed out that the Yuva Morcha used to be the mainstay of Gurung's influence in the hills, which has started showing signs of waning.

"Only emotions will not take the Gorkhaland agitation forward. We need to be well-versed with reality too. We believe Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa did the right thing by maintaining a diplomatic relation with the state government," said Chhetri.

Since the end of the 104-day-old strike last month, several hill leaders have questioned the steps taken by political parties, particularly the Morcha, during the movement, which failed to make any concrete gain.

"We are supporting the Binay Tamang-Anit Thapa camp as we believe that the statehood agitation can move forward only through democratic means. The primary reason the last agitation failed was because there was no strategy in place and our leaders decided to take on the Bengal government without any significant backing from the Centre," said Chhetri.

Pointing out that the hill parties had expected support from Delhi when they launched the movement, the youth leader said: "The Centre also let us down. However, had a proper strategy been formulated, things could have been different."

The Yuva Morcha said its members were also looking at revamping the youth wing. "We are looking at revamping the portfolios within the party soon," said Chhetri.

Observers said the youths could probably decide to remove Prakash Gurung as their president. Prakash has been booked under provisions of the UAPA for his alleged involvement in the blasts in the hills and has gone into hiding.

"We are not in touch with Prakash Gurung. However, 80 per cent of the Yuva Morcha leaders have decided to support the Binay-Anit camp," said Chhetri.

He said the Yuva Morcha's vice-president, Niran Lama, general secretary Amrit Yonzone and assistant general secretary Kewal Raj Pokhrel had also joined the rebel camp.

In another development, Sushma Rai, a former Darjeeling municipality councillor from Singamari area, extended support to the two disgruntled leaders today.

She was made the convener of the Nari Morcha's Darjeeling subdivisional committee.

Binita Roka, who is with the Gurung faction at the moment, is the president of the Nari Morcha's Darjeeling subdivisional committee.

Observers said the Tamang camp was now in the process of slowly changing the office-bearers of the party's frontal organisations.

(Source & Courtesy: https://www.telegraphindia.com/1171011/jsp/bengal/story_177491.jsp)