The West Bengal government issued look out notices against the president and secretary of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha [GJM] on Friday. The notices are issued by the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] of the State government and a very senior officer of the CID confirmed it to The Hindu. The notices follow GJM action against party interlocutors Binoy Tamang and Anit Thapa who represented them at the talks with the government. “We have issued them against GJM president Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri,” a senior CID official said.
A similar notice was also issued against another activist, Prakash Gurung, the youth wing president of the GJM. The notices are issued in consultation with the officials of the Central government to nab criminals and also to stop them from crossing international borders.
Meanwhile, following a meeting of GJM senior office-bearers, Mr. Gurung ostensibly expelled party’s assistant general secretary, Binoy Tamang, who led the team to Kolkata on August 29 to hold a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Another leader of the party Anit Thapa was also apparently expelled. “I am hearing the news that they are expelled,” party’s secretary Roshan Giri told The Hindu. However, he has not confirmed the expulsion.
Earlier, Mr Gurung claimed in a statement that a section of their party leaders “have shaken hands with Bengal government … to derail [the] movement” and thus he issued a long and strongly worded statement claiming the struggle for Gorkha homeland will continue.
“They [rebel leaders] didn’t inform me about the recent meetings they undertook, they didn’t tell me where the meeting took place, how many times such meetings were held, and I wasn’t even made aware of who would be the Convener of the coordination committee, I only came to know about it after they had done the selections. So I was kept in the dark and they didn’t consult me….[section of the leaders led by Tamang] went to Nabanna [State Secretariat] and sat for a meeting with Mamata Banerjee without consulting me,” Mr Gurung alleged.
However, Mr Gurung did have an idea of the meeting as he issued a statement prior to the meeting with the Chief Minister. “But what he did not know was the whereabouts of Tamang and Thapa after the meeting,” a GJM official said.
After the meeting, on his return to the hills, Mr Tamang gave a call to withdraw the strike till September 12, which is revoked on Friday by Mr Gurung. The party officials clarified that the strike in Darjeeling– which will be completing three months in few days– will continue indicating that the talks between the Bengal government and a section of GJM leaders failed.
Mr Gurung also slammed Tamang as a "traitor" who was playing
into the hands of the state government. Following his statement Tamang's house, meanwhile, was ransacked by pro- Gorkhaland supporters. Posters were pasted in front of his house terming him a "traitor of Gorkhaland". The party leadership claimed that a woman was killed during lathi charge by police to disperse a crowd that was protesting against the decision to suspend the shutdown. The police, however, denied the allegation.
