As Darjeeling continues to stir, the Gorkha Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti on Sunday held a protest march at Jantar Mantar. The demonstration which took place in the national capital was to press the demand for a separate ‘Gorkhaland’ from West Bengal.
“We are not going to deviate this. We don’t want to talk about anything other than Gorkhaland. If the government invites us for anything else, then they better not do so. We are not going to settle for anything else,” Rajiv Sharma, a member of Gorkha Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti said.
“We are doing this protest to make it clear that we Gorkhas also belong to India and we are also an integral part of it. There is no political party included in this,” said another protestor.
Darjeeling has been in the state of unrest for weeks now. Earlier on Friday, a Gorkhaland supporter was found dead in Sonada, on the outskirts of Darjeeling. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has alleged that he was killed by the police force present there. While the matter continues to flare up, Chief Minster of the state Mamata Banerjee had lashed out at the opposition, BJP for conspiring with the Gorkha leaders to keep the situation at a boil.
Strikingly, on Saturday, as fresh violence erupted in the Bengal hills, prompting the West Bengal government to call out the Army, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was ready for talks with protesting Gorkha leaders if they “eschew violence”. However, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) promptly rejected that offer, saying doors for talks with the state government are “closed forever”.
