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Gorkhaland leader killed
Madan Tamang
DARJEELING, MAY 21 -
Gorkhaland proponent and President of All India Gorkha League (AIGL) Madan Tamang was stabbed to death by unidentified group of persons in Darjeeling in West Bengal state of India on Friday morning.
Tamang, who sustained multiple cut wounds all over his body, succumbed to injuries in a local hospital.
Some AIGL members were also hurt in the attack that came as the AIGL members, including Tamang, were preparing for a public programme at Club Side. Tension escalated in Darjeeling town following the killing of the 60-year-old leader, as his supporters took to the streets in protest. The AIGL has accused activists of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) of killing Tamang.
GJM, that has been spearheading an agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills, refuted the allegation. Tamang had recently opposed the GJM stand on an interim set-up
for the Darjeeling hills and had demanded Gorkhaland instead. Tamang, a resident of Boksijhoda of Darjeeling, is considered one of the first leaders to advocate a separate statehood for the Nepali speakers.
In 1978, he established his own party, Darjeeling Prantiya Parishad, to struggle for a separate state. In later years, Tamang supported Subash Ghising who spearheaded the Gorkhaland movement in the 1980s. Dissatisfied by Ghising’s policies, Tamang formed the Gorkha Democratic Front
in 1991 to start his own Gorkhaland movement. Tamang is survived by his wife and a son.
Posted on: 2010-05-22 10:21
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