We may ask for something else: Gurung

DARJEELING: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung on Tuesday gave a new twist to the Hills stalemate saying he would demand something else other than a separate state when the time came.

"If the state government has a problem with the Gorkhaland demand, there will come a time when we will have to ask for something else," said Gurung. No GJM leader agreed to explain what he meant, but they all admitted that the "something else" was nothing less than the Gorkhaland state.

"In any agitation there are pluses and minuses. We may be on a lesser ground at the moment, but will not remain so. Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal," Gurung said days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that Darjeeling was a part and parcel of Bengal.

Gurung made the comment while talking to a private television channel before the public meeting of the students' front in Darjeeling town in the morning. However, when asked to comment on it at a press meet in the afternoon, Gurung refused to elaborate and only said, "Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal."

Tuesday was also the first day of the five-day 'children's agitation'. Hundreds of them shouting slogans of "We want Gorkhaland" and carrying anti-state government placards arrived at the Motor Stand in trucks and small vehicles. A rally around the town was followed by the public meeting.

GJM assistant secretary Jyoti Kumar Rai claimed the children had come on their own accord. "Their future, too, depends on the movement. We are only providing leadership," he said.

The UPA government's delay in initiating talks is also making the GJM leaders think how far it would go when the CM was opposed to talks. "Our demand needs a political solution and the Centre must intervene, as it is not a state matter anymore," the GJM president said.

Gurung has already said he won't sit for talks with the state government at a time when more than 800 GJM activists and leaders, including the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) sabhasads, are under arrest. On Tuesday, too, four GJM activists were arrested in Kalimpong for allegedly torching a vehicle.

GJM leaders are also saying they care little for the GTA meeting to elect its new chairperson. "People are not interested in GTA. Instead, it is high time the governments started a dialogue on Gorkhaland," said Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri.