Rajnath meets Gorkha leaders, appeals to end Darjeeling logjam

Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to the leaders of the Gorkhaland statehood movement in Darjeeling to call off their agitation, which entered 60th day on Sunday.

During a two-hour meeting chaired by Singh here this evening, the leaders of the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) submitted a memorandum to the Centre detailing their demands.

The home minister appealed to the leaders to call off the indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling and to end their hunger strike.

Singh also appealed to the West Bengal government to initiate dialogue with the Gorkhaland movement leaders to resolve their demands, the official said.

He also appealed to West Bengal CM to initiate dialogue with the GJM and other stakeholders of Darjeeling who are on a strike.

The BJP's Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia also attended the meeting.

Swaraj Thapa, a leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is a part of the GMCC, said the home minister had told them that he was mindful of the sufferings of the people in Darjeeling.

"We urged him to start the process for (creation of) a separate state. The state is suppressing our democratic movement," Thapa said.

The GJM leader said the home minister had appealed to them to end the agitation.
"We will soon decide the future course of action," he said.

The GMCC, the apex body of the hill parties, had earlier said that it would continue the agitation for a separate state and sought the central government's intervention to break the logjam.

Two top leaders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has been ruling the autonomous hill council, Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri, did not attend today's meeting.

Supplies of food and essentials were drying up due to the strike. Internet services have also been snapped in the hills since June 18, when the agitation started in protest against the West Bengal government's decision to introduce Bengali as one of the subjects in schools in the hills.

Except medicine shops, all business establishments, schools and colleges remained closed in the hills.
Police and security forces patrolled the streets in the hills and kept a vigil on the entry and exit routes.

PTI