Siliguri Bengalis oppose Gorkhaland

Siliguri, May 15 (ANI): Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee, which is opposing the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal, has called for one-day strike in Siliguri.

Few vehicles plied on the roads and shops were closed. Most of the people stayed indoors.

The organization is demanding re-election for the Darjeeling constituency. Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee believes that the elections in Darjeeling hills were completely unfair.

"First of all the election was illegal. This election in the Darjeeling constituency must be made null and void. Secondly, there should be a re-election not only in the Darjeeling Hill Council but whole of the Darjeeling constituency," said Mukunda Majumder, president, Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee.

The organization also burnt effigies of Jaswant Singh, a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Darjeeling seat and Bimal Gurung, Chief of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJMM) for supporting the Gorkhaland statehood demand.

The Central Government, the State Government of West Bengal and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), an organization which is demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland, signed an agreement in 1988, paving the way for setting up of the Autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (ADGHC).

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