'Doublespeak' glare on Gurung statement......In the Video interview Bimal Gurung opined to go for dialogue with chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

 Bimal Gurung

Binay Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Jan 15, 2018, Darjeeling: The Bimal Gurung camp of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was caught on the wrong foot on Monday as the full interview that Gurung had given to journalist when he resurfaced in Delhi suggested that he had indeed extended the olive branch to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

On Saturday, Roshan Giri had posted a statement of Sanjeev Lama, the assistant secretary of the Yuwa Morcha (Bimal camp), denying Gurung had said he would sit for a dialogue with the Bengal chief minister.

Lama had blamed "a few media persons and the Binay-Anit camp" of spreading false news. However, after the entire interview was made available in the Internet on Monday, Bimal's camp has been caught napping.

When asked if he would speak to the chief minister to solve the problem, Gurung is heard saying: "I have been saying from beginning that to solve a problem, one has to go in for a dialogue....it is from within a dialogue that a solution can be found."

During the agitation, Gurung had said he would only sit with the Centre for a dialogue.

Binay Tamang hit back at Gurung strongly. "For years, Gurung has been in the habit of saying one thing and then changing his version if things go wrong. His only interest is to protect himself and is neither concerned about anyone or nor knows what he is speaking," said Tamang.

Tamang, the chairman of the board of administration of the GTA, said: "It looks like even in his camp, people are not aware of what he is saying. It is because of his doublespeak and double standards throughout his political career that our people had to suffer."

Tamang who made his presence felt at the Tukvar constituency, cited examples of Gurung's alleged doublespeak during the 104 day period. "At the beginning of the strike, he had said the all-party chapter was closed. When he got a feeling his statement had not gone down well, he blamed the media."

"Even during the agitation, he has given innumerable statements saying the strike would not be lifted and if possible it would be extended to four to five months," said Tamang. "However, when he got a feeling that people were getting tired of his aimless and directionless leadership and the shutdown, he came up with a statement that he was never in favour of carrying on with the strike," said Tamang.

Observers believe Gurung's camp will find it hard to counter Binay on this count. "Since the full interview is out on the public domain, it will be difficult to cover Gurung. His camp was probably trying to cover Gurung sensing that his statement had done more harm to him than good," said Gurung.