"We call upon the Centre and the state to initiate a process
to start tripartite talks to find a permanent solution or else, the
100-year-old sore will never heal," Amrit Yonzone, the president of the
Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha, told a public meeting at Darjeeling Motor
Stand here on Sunday.
The demand for a separate administrative body for the
Darjeeling hills was first raised by the Hillmen Association in 1907 and
the statehood cry was also raised later in the same year.
During the last year's Gorkhaland agitation, sources said, the
Centre wanted to hold a tripartite meeting involving Bimal Gurung, who
was the Morcha president then, but the state insisted that the party be
represented by Binay Tamang.
With the BJP backing Gurung, it is unlikely that tripartite
talks involving the central and state governments and the Morcha will be
held soon. "However, if the Centre agrees to sit for a three-way talk
with Tamang, things would be extremely difficult for Gurung," felt an
observer.
The Yuva Morcha listed a series of other demands also on
Sunday. #"For peace to prevail in the hills, youths need employment,
vacancies in Groups B, C and D must be filled up immediately and
infrastructure in education and health must be created immediately,"
said Yonzone.
He went on: "For peace to prevail in the hills, there must be no
interference. There should be no interference in language and other
issues either. Cases registered against youths must be withdrawn and
those in jails must be released unconditionally."
It was obvious that Yonzone was referring to the Bengal
government when he said there should be "no interference" as the
purported move to impose Bengali in hill schools had triggered the last
phase of the statehood agitation.
The youth leader also said Binay Tamang had asked him to
convey to the gathering that the Kalimpong district court would be
inaugurated on March 16 and jobs of many temporary teachers in the GTA
were being regularised.
Yonzone said Gorkhaland was a dream, emotion and a demand but added that day-to-day realities were also important.
Speaker after speaker lambasted Gurung for his visionless
agitation last year, Darjeeling's BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia for his inaction
and the GNLF.
"Our Gorkhaland dream was shattered the day a bomb was blasted
here (Darjeeling Motor Stand). We had asked him (Gurung) to lead the
agitation with a vision but he heeded the advice of some other people,"
said Yonzone.
The first of a series of bombs to hit the hills last year had
exploded at Darjeeling Motor Stand in August last year during the
statehood movement.
"Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa had to work to save our people, party and flag then," said Yonzone.
The Telegraph
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