Bimal camp holds meet in Darjeeling

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 29 Nov 2019, Darjeeling: The Bimal Gurung faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Thursday held its first meeting here in public since the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation.

In the past, the faction leaders had addressed public meetings but it was under other platforms, like those during the BJP's campaign during the Lok Sabha polls and the Darjeeling Assembly byelection, or as part of panel discussions under apolitical banners like the recent hill youth summit. At Thursday's meeting in Darjeeling's Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall, B.P. Bajgain, spokesperson for the faction, said they were confident Gurung would return to before the 2021 Assembly polls and vouched for the sincerity of ally BJP and MP Raju Bista's commitment towards working for "a permanent political solution" in the hills. Gurung faces a slew of cases over the 2017 agitation. Bajgain said his party would not at present "define" for strategic reasons what "the permanent political solution" would entail.

Asked about democracy in the hills, Bajgain said it had still not "fully returned" but said "harassment" was relatively less now. "Democracy has not fully returned...our people are still being told not to go to meetings, phone calls are going to them, so it (democracy) has not fully returned but to some extent, we are feeling strong, we are coming forward....What we have realised is that even when we were not in the scene, people were with us and our issues," said Bajgain. He was referring to the Lok Sabha elections and the bypoll which the group's alliance with the BJP won earlier this year.

The Morcha leader said a parliamentary committee would soon be formed to look into "atrocities". "Talks are in progress, we will get a parliamentary committee to look into atrocities. The Bengal government has come to know about it, so we are not harassed like we were earlier." He lambasted rival Morcha faction leader Binay Tamang and JAP leader Harka Bahadur Chhetri and announced that civic volunteers would be given "appointment letters" "after the BJP comes to power in 2021".

The fact that the Gurung faction is opposed to ally Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) on issues like the three-tier panchayat elections was reflected in Bajgain's remarks.

BJP and GJM (Morcha) support a three-tier panchayat system in the hills, while ally GNLF does not want a constit- utional amendment at the moment. The hills have not had rural polls in over a decade.

The Tamang faction of the Morcha tried to play on expectations from the Gurung camp's alliance with the BJP and GNLF. "In a democracy, every party has a right to hold meetings. They have an MP and MLA and more than holding meetings, it is time that they put pressure on their MP to fulfil hopes they have given to the hill people," said Suraj Sharma, spokesperson for the Tamang camp..