Political parties united in carrying the over month-long agitation in the Darjeeling hills demanding the separate State of Gorkhaland appear divided over the role of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP of Darjeeling, S.S. Ahulwalia.
Representatives of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) marched to the Darjeeling Sadar Police Station and lodged a missing person complaint for S.S. Ahluwalia. The complaint was registered by G.M. Subba, chief convenor of the GNLF’s Darjeeling unit.
“The people of Darjeeling are not aware how our MP, whom we had elected in 2014, is doing. How is he? Where is he? We do not know. Therefore, in the interests of the people, we have lodged a missing person complaint,” Mr. Subba said.
Apart from the complaint, posters of Mr. Ahluwalia seeking details about his whereabouts in Nepali were put up at some places in Darjeeling.
Prakash Gurung, president of the youth wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), however, came to the defence of the MP.
“If a missing person complaint has to be registered, it must be against Bhaichung Bhutia, whom the GNLF supported in the 2014 polls. Our MP is in Delhi and is working for the cause of Gorkhaland,” Mr. Gurung said.
Discontent has been brewing in certain political circles over the absence of the MP since the unrest in the hills began on June 8. Mr. Ahluwalia won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Darjeeling with the support of the GJM
