The standoff in the Darjeeling hills escalated on Tuesday with the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) deciding to pull out of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) after ruling it since 2012.
Besides, all 14 influential political parties and public organisations in the region unanimously declared their support to the longstanding demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in north Bengal.
The decision was taken at a crucial all-party meeting at the Gymkhana Hall.The twin developments posed a major challenge to the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, which made it mandatory this month for students in the state’s schools to learn Bengali.
The majority in Darjeeling speaks Nepali and they opposed the government’s move, which is viewed as an attempt by the state’s dominant Bengali population to foist their language on the northern hills. The Trinamool government’s directive reignited a simmering fire for statehood.
Meet the ‘Gandhian’ women leading the Gorkhaland stir in DarjeelingThe hill parties decided on Tuesday to boycott an all-party meeting that chief minister Mamata Banerjee has convened on June 22. The Left Front too announced it won’t attend the meeting.
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