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GJM bid to smear Maoists
- Tamang’s murder
DARJEELING, MAY 23 -
Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung said on Sunday that Nepali Maoists were behind the killing of his political adversary Madan Tamang of the All India Gorkha League (AIGL).
He also denied the GJM had any hand in the murder. “Nepal’s Maoists killed him. We have no connection to the incident,” Gurung claimed. He said the West Bengal (WB) state government was trying to fan trouble among Gorkhas, Darjeeling’s Nepali speaking people, by blaming his party for Tamang’s death. The state government has filed a case against 13 senior GJM leaders, including Gurung, accusing them of having killed Tamang. Slain Tamang’s party AIGL also has cried foul against the GJM.
Tamang was a vocal critique of GJM that has been spearheading the Gorkhaland movement for separate statehood for the Nepali speaking populace in West Bengal. Tamang was marked for slaughter when he opposed Gurung’s volte face on the statehood issue after the latter suddenly discovered new virtues in the Central govt’s offer of not statehood but an interim dispensation of which he would be head.
GJM leader quits
Anmol Prasad, one of the founding leaders of the GJM, has quit the party in the wake of Tamang’s death. He announced his departure from the party on Saturday. Issuing a statement, Anmol accused the GJM of committing violence and murder in the name of Gandhism. GJM Chairman Gurung accepted Anmol’s resignation rightaway, said a source. A GJM member said that Anmol resigned due to pressure from the WB state government.
Gurung’s chequered past
A Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) cadre and Subhas Ghisingh’s henchman for 20 years, Gurung was notorious for extortion, kidnapping and murder. Gurung, 45, is also said to have killed a police officer.
He was allegedly involved in the school mid-day meal racket, extorting hundreds of thousands of rupees. He also squeezed millions from big contractors associated with the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. Later, he fell out with Ghisingh.
He rode to prominence on the popularity wave triggered by Prashant Tamang of Darjeeling who was voted Indian Idol in 2008. Covertly backed by the state government as an alternative to Ghisingh, Gurung is said to have had a hand in the murder of Darjeeling branch GNLF president Rudra Pradhan in 1999. He is also said to have ordered the killing of Kalimpong GNLF branch president C K Pradhan in 2002. Those who know him describe him as a man “hysterically averse” to opposition.
Posted on: 2010-05-24 07:31
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