Bimal Gurung to assume active role in hill politics

YOWAN MOTHAY, EOI, KALIMPONG, NOVEMBER 5, 2023 : Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung, who arrived in Kalimpong Sunday, held a meeting with the party workers of Kalimpong held at the local party office. 

He spoke about the latest political situation and said that the politics in the hills were currently in a state of chaos. Gurung said that he was now assuming an active role after realizing that the current ruling party was incapable of working on the Gorkha identity issues in the hills, nor on issues of development and employment. 

He said: “We had done a lot of work on the highway We had done a lot in our time. But now there is neither employment nor development. There is a situation where even the work of ICDS is not available. Here in the name of development, only one or two people are reaping the benefits. That's why we are active again. We will not be silent any more.”

While in his time at the head of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration people living on the banks of river Teesta had received compensation from the NHPC for losses sustained, but now the GTA authorities were even unable to rehabilitate the victims of Teesta disaster, he said. 

Bimal Gurung said he had arranged a bonus at 20 percent for tea garden workers in the hills, but the ruling leaders in the hills due to their incompetence had not been able to arrange a decent bonus. 

“We had built many model schools, brought many colleges, we had built many tourist centres. We had also built a motor stand in Kalimpong.” He said the government was neglecting not only the hills but the entire north Bengal region. 

“Different communities living in north Bengal --- Nepali, Bihari and tribal --- are suffering due to political exploitation.” 

He called upon all these communities to come forward for leadership. The GJM organization was progressing, he said, and would move forward.