Appealing for peace in the Darjeeling hills, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday said that he found “unacceptable” the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's (GJM) move to indulge in a violent agitation at a time when efforts were on through tripartite talks, at the Central-level, to find a solution to the issue.
In a statement, he said: “I appeal to all to shun the path of violence and follow the track of dialogues to maintain peace and order in the hills by cooperating with the administration so as to bind together the State and maintain its overall unity and amity.”
Earlier, he told reporters at the State Secretariat that he was looking into the matter.
Home Secretary G.D. Gautama admitted that managing the situation was a “challenge,” given the paucity of forces. He said that while the government's request to the Centre to send the Army to Darjeeling had not been accepted as yet, four companies of the Central paramilitary forces had to be diverted to the hills from the Jangal Mahal area to Darjeeling, which had only one company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
“We needed the Army for staging flag-marches. It is not the responsibility of the military to maintain law and order,” Dr. Gautama said, adding that although the situation had improved after the violence initiated by GJM supporters, which had left a trail of death and injury besides causing substantial loss of government property, the administration would still welcome the presence of the military.
Seven companies of the Central forces are deployed in Darjeeling and the adjoining Jalpaiguri, including a posse of four companies of the CRPF which had been diverted from Jangal Mahal around 10 days ago, and the two companies of the Border Security Force deployed since Tuesday.
Indicating that the government was jittery about the diversion from Jangal Mahal, he told reporters that another letter was written to the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday, reiterating the need for an additional eight companies of the Central forces for West Bengal. “We had asked for eight companies for Darjeeling, since the bandh had been called by the GJM, but we have received only the two companies of the BSF.”
He said that the while Tuesday's violence was unprovoked, tension had erupted when the police took cognizance of 35 tents pitched by GJM supporters within a reserve forest which had been under a ban order since January 19.
