People have lost faith in GJM chief Gurung: Trinamool

Even as life continued to be paralysed in West Bengal's Darjeeling hills following an intensified separatist movement by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), the state's ruling Trinamool Congress Sunday claimed that people have lost faith in the Gorkha leadership.

"I feel people have lost faith in Bimal Gurung," Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy said about the GJM supremo who has been spearheading the movement for a separate Gorkhaland state for more than five years.

The GJM-led Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee -- a forum of several pro-Gorkhaland parties -- has called an indefinite stir in the region in support of their demand. Hundreds of Gorkha leaders and supporters have been arrested ever since the stir began Aug 3.

Roy said the people of the region were in favour of development and peace and will not support GJM's movement for long.

"People of the hills are in favour of peace and development. And whoever tries to destabilise the region by disturbing the peace or stalling development eventually will get isolated," he said.

Meanwhile, another GJAC constituent - the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) - said it was mulling to keep educational institutions out of the stir.

"We hope to exclude educational institutions out of the ambit of our stir," CPRM spokesperson Govind Chettri said.