By IANS
Kolkata : The general shutdown in West Bengal’s northern hill district Darjeeling, called by the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) to protest an attack on its leader by a rival group, was withdrawn Tuesday.
“The GNLF has announced withdrawal of the indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling. I hope everything would come to normalcy from Wednesday in the hills,” West Bengal Inspector General (North Bengal) R.J.S. Nawla told IANS.
He said the situation was quite peaceful Tuesday and there was no report of fresh violence in the hills till late in the evening.
“Some shops have already opened in Darjeeling,” he said.
Violence rocked Darjeeling on Nov 23 after GNLF leader and former Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) councillor K.B. Gurung was attacked by Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) activists.
GJMM party workers, led by Bimal Gurung, also went on a rampage destroying ouses of several GNLF workers in the area. The sporadic clashes between the rival factions left 11 people injured in the hills, forcing the administration to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in Darjeeling.
The shutdown, called by the GNLF, affected life in Darjeeling, Kerseong and Kalimgpong subdivisions.
The GNLF, led by Subash Ghisingh, is the main political party in the hills. Bimal Gurung, who heads the rival GJMM, was expelled from the GNLF for “anti-party” activities.
The GJMM was opposing the grant of the Sixth Schedule status by the central government to the Darjeeling hills region. The GJMM also called a 12-hour shutdown Nov 22 to press its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the region.
The GNLF opposed the shutdown call.
Ghisingh’s GNLF party along with the centre and state governments had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2005 that announced the Gorkha Hills a Sixth Schedule area, granting a greater autonomy to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).