Gorkha National Liberation Front to boycott polls

Siliguri, Apr 13 (ANI): The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), an organisation which is demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal, announced its boycott of the upcoming national polls.

"Neither NDA nor UPA can bring the demand of Gorkhaland true for us. GNLF's decision to boycott the polls will be a decisive factor for both the Congress and the BJP in the hills in the upcoming elections with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate to be the ultimate gainer," said Subhas Gishing, president, GNLF.

The Central Government, the State Government of West Bengal and the GNLF signed an agreement paving the way for setting up the Autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (ADGHC) in 1988.

However, in early 2008, a breakaway faction of GNLF set up the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which over the past couple of months has been spearheading the agitation for the separate state of Gorkhaland.

On the other hand 'Bangla o Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee', an organization which is opposing the separate statehood, burnt the effigies of Jaswant Singh, a candidate of the BJP from Darjeeling seat, for supporting the Gorkhaland statehood demand.

"We want to state that there should be no Gorkhaland within Bengal, and no partition of Gorkhaland is acceptable to us. Jaswant Singh and BJP have done immense harm to Bengal. As a national party, they have acted irresponsibly," said Mukunda Majumdar, president of the committee.

GNLF, under the leadership of Subhash Gishing, initiated an agitation in 1980 demanding a separate state but dropped the demand after New Delhi agreed to confer partial autonomy in 1988 for the Nepalese-speaking people under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. (ANI)