GJM distances from Telangana movement

When Andhra Pradesh is seeing political dramas over Telangana issue, in West Bengal both the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and the state government are smoking peace pipe over the Gorkhaland issue.

While making it clear that the party is still holding on to the demand for a separate statehood during its meting with the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the GJM leaders on Tuesday softened its stand and said that the Gorkhaland and Telangana issues are different. “We are not withdrawing our demand for a separate state. But one should understand that Telangana has a different perspective and Darjeeling has a different perspective,” Roshan Giri, General Secretary of the party.

Earlier on the day, the GJM had insisted that if there could be a separate state of Telangana, there should also be a separate state of Gorkhaland. The chief minister is on a visit to the Hlls and had a meeting with the GJM leaders yesterday. The GJM was positive about the meeting with the Trinamool Congress supremo.

“Mamata Banerjee is a woman who works. We believe her,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, GJM central committee MLA and the party MLA from Kalimpong.

Referring to the previous Left Front rule, he alleged an attempt was made to create a division between the people of the hills and the plains.

GJM chief Bimal Gurung who led a party team to meet the chief minister at a guest house last evening, said “I am happy with the meeting. We informed the chief minister about our grievances. We are children. She is our mother. We can make demands to our mother.”

A Gorkha Womens’ wing delegation led by Gurung’s wife Asha Gurung tried to impress upon the chief minister the need to include Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai in the jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the new council which will run the administration in the hills.

The GTA agreement was signed on July 18 at Sukna in the presence of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the chief minister and passed in the assembly recently.