Temporary normalcy prevails in Darjeeling; crisis still persists

Condition in the state started returning to normal after the Gorkaha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) agitating for a separate Gorkhaland decided to give a halt to its proposed indefinite strike in the Darjeeling Hills till Monday. However, the calm and normalcy of the situation is superficial, as the GJM refuted to participate in talks with the state government, scheduled for June 18.

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Instead, the protestors demanded for a tripartite meeting between the Centre, West Bengal government and the GJM for reaching a consensus on the issue of the Gorkhaland.

The rejection of the talks by the Gorkha outfit is a blow on the government's attempt to discard unrest in the tourist hub.

Meanwhile the seriousness of the issue has led the Left Front to call a meeting of its constituent partners on Saturday to get a reasonable solution. And on 17th of June, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has called an all party convention to discuss the grave issue in Kolkata.

Friday remained comparatively peaceful with no fresh violence reported after facing two days of unrest in Darjeeling, Siliguri and nearby areas, which brought the normal life to standstill.

The West Bengal government in its attempt to bring normalcy in the state had invited GJM chief Bimal Gurung and his followers to meet his separately on June 18 at Writers' Building to discuss the Darjeeling issue, but the government received a shock after GJM turned down the government's proposal.

To a query asking his reacting to the rejection of his offer by GJM, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had simply remarked "let us see what happens."

On the other hand, explaining his viewpoint why the GJM rejected such proposal, the GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said: "The government wants to discuss the developmental issues concerning Darjeeling with us. But we consider the problem as a political one, and we need a political solution. We will not participate in the talks on June 18."

"We feel an interim solution can be found out through tri-partite talks involving our party, the state government and the centre," Giri opined.

Two days ago, taking into account the seriousness of the agitation, which soon had turned into violent at some places, the Chief Minister had called the army on Thursday to control the violent assaults on local people, tourists and police by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha activists.

In the meantime different tunes of voices has started floating in the air with Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee saying her party will not attend the meeting unless the GJM is not welcome. Also the different constituents of the Left itself seemed divided over not calling GJM in the meeting.