GJM plunges into crisis as prominent leaders desert party

DARJEELING - Gorkhaland movement spearhead, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), plunged into a serious crisis Monday with eight central committee members and several intellectuals associated with the party quitting in the wake of the murder of Gorkha leader Madan Tamang.

The GJM, which has been leading the movement for a Gorkhaland state for the last two years, suffered a severe setback as its press and publicity secretary Harka Bahadur Chhetri announced his resignation following allegations that the party was responsible for the brutal killing Friday of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League president Madan Tamang.

“In the present situation in the hills I don’t want to continue any more with the GJM. I am peace loving. People in the hills are peace loving,” Chhetri told mediapersons in Kalimpong town, the second largest city in the Darjeeling Hills.

Seven other central committee members, including C.R. Rai, Bhoujit Tamang, Palden Lama, Narayan Thapa and C.K. Subba, also quit the party on a day when nearly 15,000 people marched in Darjeeling town on Tamang’s last journey.

Angry mourners tore posters and banners of the GJM and shouted slogans against the party, whose writ ran in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling district –Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — even last week.

The GJM led the Gorkhaland agitation since the middle of the 1980s, and rendered irrelevant the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). The GJM had little opposition in the hills, and Madan Tamang was one of a handful of political figures who dared to challenge the GJM in the hills.

Tamang was stabbed to death Friday in broad daylight near the Planters’ Club of Darjeeling town when he was busy making preparation for an ABGL meeting to celebrate the party’s foundation day.

Apart from the central committee members, three others who were part of the GJM think-tank and regular participants in its parleys with the central and state governments — Tilak Dewan, L.B. Parihar and Amar Rai — also severed links with the party.

“It (Madan Tamang’s murder) was unwarranted. No one ever thought such a thing can occur in broad daylight,” Amar Rai told IANS over phone.

“Public sentiment has gone against the GJM. People have become emotional and voiced their opinion against the party. We are members of a study forum providing inputs to the GJM.

“But we don’t want to work with the party now as we feel our purpose can no longer be served if there is violence,” Rai said.

Political observers feel the next few days could be crucial in determining whether the GJM was heading towards a bleak future or would bounce back after the initial emotional outburst among the people died down.

The Subash Ghising-led GNLF has been lying dormant in the face of the assault from the GJM for the last two years. With the GJM now forced on the backfoot, Ghising could make an effort to make a comeback.

Ghising ran the development body Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) for about 20 years with an iron hand, till his party lost its clout to the GJM in 2008. He is now based in neighbouring Jalpaiguri district after being virtually driven out of Darjeeling by the GJM.