Separate Gorkhaland demand gathers momentum
December 29th, 2009 - 2:17 pm ICT by ANI
Silliguri, Dec 29 (ANI): An organisation spearheading the campaign for a separate Gorkhaland state here on Monday demanded that the next round of tripartite talks should be held at the political level.
The decision was taken at the central committee meeting of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM).
GJM is demanding a new state of ‘Gorkhaland’ to be carved out from West Bengal.Tripartite talks held earlier in Darjeeling resulted inconclusive.
“Now we want the talks, specifically on Gorkhaland issues, and it should be done in political levels within 45 days, dates counting from December 21,” said Tilakchand Roka, central committee member of the GJM.
To press for their demand, the GJM from Sunday began a road blockade in all the national highways passing through their demanded territory.
“We began our strike on 27 December, and it will continue the same way until our demand for Gorkhaland is fulfilled,” said Amrit Ranjan, secretary of students’ wing of the GJM, in Siliguri.
Apart from that the relay hunger strike that began on December 26 is underway in different sub-divisions of the Darjeeling hills.
Womens cell of the GJM started their hunger strike on Monday.
Gorkhas have been demanding a separate state, to be carved out West Bengal, to help them protect their culture and heritage.
The demand for Gokhaland gained momentum after New Delhi announced earlier this month that it would carve out the new state of Telangana out of the present state of Andhra Pradesh in south India.
The Gorkha population in West Bengal is around one million out of over 80 million. (ANI)
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- Darjeeling issue solved, says Mamata after talks with GJM (Lead) - Jun 07, 2011
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- No statehood but talks on to solve Gorkhaland problem: home secretary - Dec 21, 2009
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- Day after accord, GJM harps on Gorkhaland - Jul 19, 2011
- Pro-autonomy ethnic group calls off hunger strike in Darjeeling - Dec 20, 2009
Tags: central committee member, committee meeting, darjeeling hills, december 26, gjm, heritage, hunger strike, momentum, national highways, New Delhi, one million, population, road blockade, siliguri, south india, state of andhra pradesh, tripartite talks, west bengal