By IANS
Darjeeling : Violence rocked West Bengal’s northern hill town Darjeeling Friday after an attack on a Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader allegedly by its rival Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) party workers.
“We have requisitioned army to quell the situation, but soldiers have not moved in yet,” Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) R.J.S. Nawla told IANS.
K.B. Gurung, GNLF leader of Darjeeling and former Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) member, was critically injured and admitted to Darjeeling district hospital.
The GNLF called an indefinite strike in the entire hill region of Bengal to protest the attack on Gurung and to demand arrest of 20 GJMM activists.
“After the incident, GJMM party workers, led by Bimal Gurung, also went on rampage and destroyed the residences of a few GNLF workers. They beat people in Darjeeling district also. The violence first started at Kalimpong town of the district, and soon spread across Darjeeling,” Nawla said.
He said orders under Section 144 pf the Indian Penal Code, banning assembly of more than five people have already been imposed at Kakjhora and Youth Hostel Road in Darjeeling town to bring the situation under control.
The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), led by Subash Ghisingh, is the principal political party in the hills. Bimal Gurung, who is president of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha, was expelled from Subash Ghisingh’s GNLF for “anti-party” activities.
“The situation is peaceful now. We are monitoring everything and if there is a necessity we would definitely deploy army there,” Nawla said.
The GJMM is opposing the grant of Sixth Schedule status by the Centre to the Darjeeling hills region. It has also called for a 12-hour shutdown Thursday in support of its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the region.
The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) opposed the shutdown call. Ghisingh was a signatory with the Centre and the state government to the memorandum of settlement, signed in 2005, for the Sixth Schedule status to the region.
The Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) ensures to the district council administrative powers similar to those enjoyed by the Autonomous District Councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.