Binay Tamang meets Mamata, says won’t share any platform with Bimal Gurung

There is peace in Darjeeling for the past three years and we want the peace and stability to remain. Even today if you go to Darjeeling you will find many tourists: Binoy Tamang

Shiv Sahay Singh, TH, NOVEMBER 03, 2020: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binay Tamang said on Tuesday that he will not share any administrative or political platform with GJM founder Bimal Gurung, who has emerged from political exile after three years. He announced this after meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the State Secretariat here.

The meeting comes in the wake of a political U-turn by Mr. Gurung who announced his support to Ms. Banerjee and severed his decade long ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We are not going to share any administrative or political platform with Bimal Gurung,” Mr. Tamang told journalists at Gorkha Bhawan in Kolkata after meeting the Chief Minister.

Mr. Tamang was accompanied by Anit Thapa who heads the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the regional autonomous body of Darjeeling hills to the meeting. The GJM leader who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Darjeeling on a Trinamool Congress ticket said his meeting with the Chief Minister was fruitful and was on maintaining peace and stability in Darjeeling hills. “There is peace in Darjeeling for the past three years and we want the peace and stability to remain. Even today if you go to Darjeeling you will find many tourists,” he said.

Mr. Tamang said that Mr. Gurung has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court and it is for the courts to decide his fate. The GJM leader blamed Mr. Gurung for the violence in the Darjeeling hills in 2017, which resulted in loss of both civilian life and security personnel.

Once a trusted aide of Mr. Gurung, both the leaders were together till 2017. It was during the violent agitation of 2017 in the hills over the demand of separate Gorkhaland that Mr. Gurung had to leave the hills and Mr. Tamang warmed up to the Trinamool Congress.

Ever since Mr. Gurung made a public appearance on October 21, the Darjeeling hills have been rife with speculations and rallies. Even on Tuesday when the hill leaders were meeting the Chief Minister, there was a rally in Darjeeling hills against Mr. Gurung. Supporters of Mr. Tamang have been holding rallies in Darjeeling hills saying Mr. Gurung was not welcome there. The support of both the hills leaders is crucial for the Trinamool Congress to make electoral gains in the hills which voted in favour of BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leadership has blamed Ms. Banerjee for the recent developments. “It is the Chief Minister who has orchestrated the division in the hills and she will have to set the house in order,” BJP national vice president Mukul Roy said.

(https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/binay-tamang-meets-mamata-says-wont-share-any-platform-with-bimal-gurung/article33016568.ece)

Who is Bimal Gurung? He is out of my syllabus, says GJM faction chief Binoy Tamang

Zee News: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) faction chief Binoy Tamang on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the outcome of his meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but maintained that any association with "fugitive" Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung was improbable.

Asserting that "Bimal Gurung is a closed chapter" in Darjeeling, Tamang, who an ally of the TMC since 2017, said he, along with his colleague and Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) chairman Anit Thapa, discussed "several issues" related to the development of the Hills.

"Who is Bimal Gurung? We are not giving him any importance. He is out of my syllabus. Not our subject. Bimal Gurung chapter is closed. None of the TMC leaders has spoken on this. We did not discuss Bimal Gurung at all. "We have not discussed any issues related to Bimal Gurung. He is a fugitive and law will take its course. We talked about matters related to infrastructure development in the Hills. It was a fruitful meeting," he said while addressing a press conference.

Banerjee, along with Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and state ministers Aroop Biswas and Firhad Hakim, held an hour-long closed-door meeting with Tamang and Thapa. The state government is yet to come out with a statement on the meeting.

Tamang, who has been opposed to the proposal of Gurung's return to the Hills, said the people of the Darjeeling don't want him back. "There are so many cases against him. He has more than 100 cases against him. He has UAPA charges against him. He is a proclaimed offender, his property has been attached. None is above law. We will not share any political or administrative platform with Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri even in the future," he said.

"Our focus is on the development of the hills. Gorkhaland is a dream of Gorkhas. Gorkhaland was sold as an election issue by hill leaders. We will not resort to arson in the hills in the name of Gorkhaland," he also said. 

He added, "All matters were related to peace, normalcy in the Darjeeling hills and North Bengal. Discussed pending issues on GTA and development. Additional funds are to be given to us also. For Mirik lake, beautiful and water purification was also discussed."

Bimal Gurung, who had been in hiding for three years, resurfaced in Kolkata on October 21 and pledged support to the TMC, after having quit the NDA, triggering discontent among the Tamang faction which had always backed the Mamata Banerjee party in the past. Rallies were taken out in the Hills by the Tamang faction opposing Gurung's entry since October 22, prompting the fugitive leader's loyalists to organise counter-rallies welcoming him. Currently, Gurung is putting up in Kolkata along with his trusted aides.

Criticising the development as "dirty politics", the state unit of the BJP said the ruling TMC was trying to disturb peace in the Hills. "This is nothing but dirty politics to disturb the peace. We condemn such politics... Just to win a few seats, the ruling TMC is pushing the Hills towards instability," BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

The TMC, however, refuted the charge as baseless and said it was the BJP which had tried to create unrest in Darjeeling. "The BJP had tried to foment trouble the Hills. We brought back peace," TMC MP Sougata Roy said.

(https://zeenews.india.com/west-bengal/who-is-bimal-gurung-he-is-out-of-my-syllabus-says-gjm-faction-chief-binoy-tamang-2322289.html?fbclid=IwAR3lY1B5rh6OPdgs-b9mOyH2Y0I8ZY7FF4gRU2fE7t4GGDtJuLqjb96UL0w)