A series of fresh pro-Gorkhaland agitations resume after a four-day breather in the Darjeeling hills on Monday even though the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC) that includes representatives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) softened its stand on the nature of protests in the coming days.
Instead of a five-day “Ghar Bitra Janata” (people inside their homes) programme as announced earlier, the GJAC at a meeting in Darjeeling on Sunday decided to observe the programme only on August 19 and urged the people to hit the streets in support of Gorkhaland on the remaining four days.
“The people in Darjeeling want to come out on the streets and raise the pitch for Gorkhaland. They want to make their voices heard. We have decided to give a call for “Janata Sadak Ma” [people in the streets] programme from August 20 to August 23,” Raju Pradhan, convener of the GJAC, told The Hindu over telephone from Darjeeling.
“The ‘Janata Sadak Ma’ programme has been organised to voice our demand for Gorkhaland. The change in programme is because the government is suppressing our voice,” GJM president Bimal Gurung posted on a social networking site.
