Darjeeling:
An indefinite bandh has been called in Darjeeling Hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) from Saturday to press its demand for a separate Gorkhaland state, a day after Congress and its allies unanimously decided to create Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh.
"If there can be a Telangana state then why not a Gorkhaland? We are demanding that our 107-year-old legitimate demand (for a separate state) be fulfilled," GJM general secretary and spokesman Roshan Giri told reporters after a party core committee meeting in Darjeeling today.
"Darjeeling was never in West Bengal. It was under Sikkim and Bhutan in pre-independence India. Therefore, there is no question of division of Bengal," he said.
GJM members in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), from which its CEO and GJM chief Bimal Gurung quit yesterday, would continue for now and six members of the party, including three MLAs from the hills would leave for Delhi on Friday to meet the MPs of various parties and apprise them of the Gorkhaland demand.
The six-member team would comprise Giri himself, Trilok Dewan (Darjeeling MLA), Harkabahadur Chetri (Kalimpong MLA), Rohit Sharma (Kurseong MLA), D K Pradhan and Amar Rai.
"We are carrying out a peaceful agitation through democratic means for statehood of Gorkhaland. If the state government represses it we will intensify our agitation ... We will continue our agitation ... at any cost, any sacrifice till we get our Gorkhaland," he said.
He termed as 'untrue' Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegation that Congress had instigated the Darjeeling agitation.
"Congress did not instigate us ... The Gorkhas are very peace-loving people. But we have not been given any recognition and no state was given to us despite our sacrifices in the various wars. Today we have no identity - nobody, not the Centre nor the state gave it to us," Giri said.