Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – reportedly advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the Darjeeling unrest.
Sources said, after the swearing-in-ceremony of Ram Nath Kovind as the 14th President of India at the Central Hall in New Delhi, PM Modi – while leaving the venue – noticed Mamata sitting almost in the last row. CM Mamata and PM Modi had a brief conversation; the party insiders claimed that she was advised to meet Rajnath Singh to resolve the Darjeeling issue.
Mamata is likely to meet Rajnath in the evening at his house, and the two leaders are expected to find some ways to convince Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Chief Bimal Gurung for talks.
The West Bengal Chief Minister is also likely to raise the issue of support that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders are allegedly getting from insurgency groups stationed in neighbouring states and countries.
Mamata has claimed that violence in the Hills is a ‘deep rooted conspiracy’, demanding the Central government look into the matter.
On June 18, the GJM leaders found themselves on the back foot after the Union Home Minister appealed to those demanding a separate state for Gorkhaland to maintain peace in the Hills.
Then, the statement issued by the MHA stunned the GJM leaders (keeping them in dark about the communiqué) as many of them felt that instead of issuing a press statement, Singh should have communicated with them directly.
Trouble started in Darjeeling after the West Bengal government announced making Bengali a compulsory language in the schools of the region.
Tuesday marked the 41st day of the ongoing indefinite bandh in the Hills.
Meanwhile, in a major relief to GJM chief Bimal Gurung and 47 other senior leaders, the City Sessions Court in Kolkata rejected CBI’s plea for an arrest warrant against them in the Madan Tamang murder case.
During the hearing, chief judicial magistrate Kundan Kumar Kumai rejected the plea in the morning, saying all the 48 accused, including Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha Gurung, Roshan Giri, Binay Tamang, would be able to represent themselves at the hearings through lawyers.
The court will next hear a discharged petition moved by the accused on August 1-4.
On Monday, CBI had moved a petition, seeking an arrest warrant against them after they failed to appear before the Court as was directed by the Calcutta High Court on 19 July.
Madan Tamang, who led the anti-GJM Democratic Front in the Darjeeling Hills, was hacked to death at Laden La Road near the Planters’ Club in Darjeeling on May 21, 2010. At the time of the incident, he was busy with the preparations for a party rally when a group of alleged GJM activists hacked him to death with Khukri.
Comments
0 comment