– Such thoughts are regressive: Tamang
An SUV that was torched by suspected bandh supporters at Sonada in Darjeeling on Sunday
Sept. 24: Posters were found at different places in Kalimpong today with death threats to transporters and traders who defied the ongoing strike and “accepted the GTA 2”.
The posters, presumed to be have been written by supporters of the Bimal Gurung faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, also hinted at an armed struggle for Gorkhaland.
“Those who are opening shops or planning to run vehicles during the ongoing strike should be ready to die… we will kill those who have dropped the demand for Gorkhaland and accepted the GTA 2,” read the posters written in Nepali.
The threat came a day after 19 business organisations from Darjeeling decided to open their shops all at once at 9am today. Fear, however, prevented them from doing so as planned.
Two vehicles were torched in and around Darjeeling today by suspected bandh supporters.
The posters, spotted at Motor Stand and Hut Bazaar, didn’t mention the name of any person or association but carried a threat of armed struggle. “The Bengal government is forcing us to leave democracy and take up arms,” read one of the posters.
Sources said the “GTA 2” referred to in the posters was the board of administrators announced by the Mamata Banerjee government to run the autonomous hill body, whose first five-year tenure has already ended and all Morcha members have resigned to show solidarity with the statehood movement.
Disgruntled Morcha leaders Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa were put at the helm of the board of administrators by the government.
“The intentions of those who have put up the posters are clear. They want the shutdown to continue and are trying to intimidate people who desperately want the strike to end. Some people have already defied the strike by opening their shops and establishments or running their vehicles,” said a senior police officer.
He suggested that the Gurung lobby of the Morcha could be behind the posters.
“The posters’ content is synonymous with the stand taken by the Gurung lobby,” the officer said.
While the Gurung faction of the Morcha has stressed that the shutdown will continue until there are tripartite talks on statehood, the Tamang lobby, also insisting on Gorkhaland, wants normality to be restored.
Told about the posters, Tamang said: “We have rebelled against such thoughts. These regressive thoughts can never pave the way for Gorkhaland. We need to believe in the democratic set-up and should have a progressive mindset to achieve our demand for statehood in non-violent manner.”
Prominent leaders believed to be close to Gurung either did not take calls from this newspaper or their phones were out of reach.
An observer said there was immense pressure on Gurung to prove that the agitation he was heading would “achieve something”.
“Many prominent Morcha leaders who have been arrested belong to his lobby. Gurung himself is on the run. On the other hand, people have started defying the strike. In such a situation, Gurung is apprehensive that he will become a non-entity in hill politics if normality is restored. As Gurung cannot come out in public to convince people to go ahead with the shutdown, a section of his supporters might have plastered posters to intimidate the people,” said the observer.
[Via: The Telegraph]
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