Gorkha group calls 12-hour trade shutdown Monday

DARJEELING - Facing the heat following allegations of its involvement in the murder of rival Gorkha outfit’s leader Madan Tamang, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has called a 12-hour business shutdown in West Bengal’s Darjeeling town Monday to show its respect to Tamang.

However, the voices of protest against the GJM seemed to be getting louder in Darjeeling.

Thousands joined a candlelight rally carrying Tamang’s photos, one functionary resigned from the GJM, and there was a near-unanimous demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to unearth the conspiracy and punish the culprits responsible for the 64-year-old Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) president’s brutal murder in broad daylight.

The GJM leaders called for the dawn-to-dusk business shutdown urging all shops, commercial establishments and markets to remain closed as a mark of respect to Tamang.

The ABGL’s widely respected leader was stabbed to death near the Planters’ Club Saturday afternoon while he was busy making preparations for the league’s meeting slated later in the day.

The GJM also announced a four-hour business shutdown in the two other subdivisions of the Darjeeling Hills - Kalimpong and Kurseong.

“We want to show our respect to Madan Tamang and also ensure there are no untoward incidents during the last rites,” said GJM assistant general secretary Benoy Tamang.

As dusk descended on Darjeeling town, people of all ages and cutting across the social divide organised for the second day in a row a candlelight procession that meandered through various parts of the town.

The silent marchers, some of them tearful, went round the tourist town, as the numbers of those participating in the march swelled along the way.

Earlier, through the day a large number of people filed past Tamang’s body kept in his sprawling house on Gandhi Road.

ABGL general secretary Laxman Pradhan said the body would be brought in a procession to the party office in the morning before being kept at the Chawkbazar, the hub of the town to enable the public to pay their last respects.

The last rites would be performed Monday afternoon at Tamang’s ancestral house at Meghma under Sukhya Pokhri police station.

With first information reports (FIRs) filed against 13 of its leaders and activists, including party chief Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri, the GJM was vehement in denying its involvement.

“Let there be a CBI inquiry. Madan Tamang’s murder is the result of a conspiracy hatched by the media and the government against the GJM. But if our leaders are arrested, the consequences will be serious. We will court mass arrest,” warned Gurung at Kalimpong.

A Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha (BGP) delegation also went to Tamang’s place and called for a CBI inquiry.

BGP secretary Sukman Muktan called for a CBI inquiry, but also demanded a ban on the Gorkha Land Personnel (GLP), a voluntary force formed by the GJM in the hills “to curb anti-social activities”.

Meanwhile, Gorkha Janmukti Hotel Owners’ Association secretary Sangey Bhutiya was arrested Sunday for his involvement in the attack on a hotel owned by the anti-GJM Democratic Front convenor Dawa Sherpa.

The GJM got a setback as its advisory council member Anmol Prasad resigned from the party over allegations of its involvement in Tamang’s murder.

Political observers said since 1986, when the movement demanding a Gorkhaland state out of parts of North Bengal began, the hills have never witnessed such intensity of protests over a leader’s death.