Chairman of IGC Dil Kumari Bhandari has proposed to Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) Chairman Bimal Gurung to form such an alliance. IGC has scheduled a program on February 25, 2011 to meet several Nepali-speaking political parties, including GJM, to form the alliance.[break]
The Nepali-speaking people of Darjeeling have been demanding a separate Gorkhaland state for more many years. However, the movement has not been able to take concrete shape due to the division of Nepali-speaking people into several political parties. The GJM movement, which began three years ago, is in disarray. It has agreed with the government to go for an interim arrangement for two years.
Political parties such as GJM, All India Gorkha League (AIGL), Gorkha Rastriya Mukti Morcha (C) and Revolutionary Marxist Communist Party (RMCP) have taken the move to form a working alliance positively.
RMCP Chairman RB Rai said IGC´s proposal to form the alliance has come at an appropriate time.
“The IGC proposal will help apread the issue of the Gorkhaland state nationwide as it has a network across India,” Rai said.
AIGL Acting Chairman Dawa Sherpa said an alliance was possible for realizing the demand for a separate state. He, however, said GJM´s agreement with the government to go for an autonomous authority was unacceptable.
Such an authority is an administrative unit similar to the Gorkha Parbatya Council, which was agreed upon by Subash Ghising 22 years ago.
Meanwhile, the indefinite strike called by GJM from February 9 onwards has been called off from Saturday for a period of four days. The strike was called off after Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram assured GJM that its demand would be addressed.
GJM has said it will resume the strike from Wednesday if the central government fails to fulfill the demand.
GJM had called the strike following the killing of two of its cadres in police firing. It has been demanding that the killings be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Wilson Chapramari, an independent lawmaker arrested on the charge of involvement in fueling the Gorkhaland movement, be freed.
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