Rallies, campaigns echo in Darjeeling

Near-total shutdown in the hills; boarding schools given 12-hour window to help hostellers.

A man being carried to hospital during the indefinite strike in Darjeeling on June 21, 2017.

With no breakthrough in sight in the Darjeeling impasse, the situation in the hills remained on tenterhooks on Wednesday as the indefinite shutdown entered the seventh day.

There was a near-total shutdown, and only essential services such as medical shops and hospitals remained open. Vehicles did not ply on the streets in Darjeeling. Nari Morcha, the women’s wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, organised a number of rallies across the town. While there were bike rallies by GJM supporters in various parts of the hills, pro-Gorkhaland supporters started a new poster campaign. According to sources, Internet services are likely to remain shut for the next few days..

Meanwhile, the GJM late on Wednesday announced a 12-hour relaxation in the shutdown from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 23 to help students staying in hostels leave.

There are about a few thousand students in reputed boarding schools of Darjeeling whose summer vacations start on Friday. Authorities of schools such as St. Joseph’s School, North Point, and Mount Hermon School, which have hundreds of students from foreign countries on their rolls, had expressed concern over how they would go home.

Supporters of the separatist Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) group shout slogans while burning an effigy of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during an indefinite strike called in Darjeeling on June 19, 2017. Hundreds of protesters on June 18 paraded with coffins containing the bodies of two men they claimed were killed in clashes with Indian security forces in Darjeeling, as the hill resort reels from separatist unrest.

Students, returning home after the closure of schools, walk past shuttered shops during a general strike called by the GJM. The imposition of Bengali in schools had sparked the protests for a separate state.

The roads wear a deserted look as the GJM called for an indefinite total bandh in Darjeeling.

A child rides her tricycle as paramilitary personnel stand guard during an indefinite strike in Darjeeling on June 16, 2017.

A soldier patrols next to a burned out vehicle after clashes with supporters of the separatist GJM in Darjeeling. A man has been killed and dozens of police personnel injured in clashes between Indian security forces and protesters.

Members of the Indian Muslim community take part in a rally in support of a separate state of Gorkhaland in Darjeeling on June 18, 2017.

A tourist looks on as security personnel stop the supporters of the GJM during a protest amid a general strike in Darjeeling. Thousands of tourists fled the Indian hill resort of Darjeeling on June 12 after local activists demanding the creation of a new state warned that a general strike could degenerate into violence. Hundreds of troops and riot police patrolled the streets of the famed tea-producing resort in eastern India as panicked tourists packed their bags.

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With no breakthrough in sight in the Darjeeling impasse, the situation in the hills remained on tenterhooks on Wednesday as the indefinite shutdown entered the seventh day.

There was a near-total shutdown, and only essential services such as medical shops and hospitals remained open. Vehicles did not ply on the streets in Darjeeling. Nari Morcha, the women’s wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, organised a number of rallies across the town. While there were bike rallies by GJM supporters in various parts of the hills, pro-Gorkhaland supporters started a new poster campaign. According to sources, Internet services are likely to remain shut for the next few days..

Meanwhile, the GJM late on Wednesday announced a 12-hour relaxation in the shutdown from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 23 to help students staying in hostels leave.

There are about a few thousand students in reputed boarding schools of Darjeeling whose summer vacations start on Friday. Authorities of schools such as St. Joseph’s School, North Point, and Mount Hermon School, which have hundreds of students from foreign countries on their rolls, had expressed concern over how they would go home.

Parties to skip meet

In a fresh jolt to the West Bengal government, the Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front have decided not to attend the meeting called in Siliguri on Thursday to discuss the Darjeeling situation. On Tuesday, a meeting of 14 political parties and social organisations decided not to participate in the meeting. In the absence of those parties, the meeting has no meaning, Asok Bhattacharya, CPI(M) MLA, said.