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Tamang murder deathknell for GJM
DARJEELING, MAY 25 -
Shockwaves triggered by the May 21 killing of pro-Gorkhaland leader Madan Tamang of the All India Gorkha League has shaken Darjeeling politics. The Gorkhaland movement is likely to tread another path.
Symptoms of emerging new political dynamics were abundant at Monday’s funeral cortege of slain Tamang in this hill district of West Bengal state of India.
Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), the organisation spearheading the Gorkhaland movement currently, has become an object of public derision and its chieftain Bimal Gurung the butt of public loathing.
Not only did the residents of Darjeeling shout slogans against GJM, they ripped posters of Gurung plastered all over town. Faced with the charge of plotting the murder of his adversary, Gurung is now divested of all the halo that he had garnered from the public so far.
The shakeup has hit the GJM badly, with some of its prominent leaders quitting the party in the wake of Tamang’s killing. Senior leader Anmol Prasad was the first to hit the exit door. Other core members of GJM, including Dr Harka Kshetri, LB Pariyar, Trilok Dewan, Amarsingh Rai, CR Rai, Bhavjit Rai, Narayan Thapa, Dr. CK Subba, Palden Lama and Amar Lama followed suit.
“It’s evident from these resignations that the GJM hangs perilously from a thread right now,” said Sanjay Pradhan, Darjeeling-based journalist.
The leaders who left are demanding that GJM take the moral responsibility for Tamang’s death.
However, the still loyal members of the dwarfed GJM are adamant and have dubbed the resigning clique an opportunist lot.
“They are fleeing when the Morcha is in trouble,” said Binay Tamang, GJM Joint Secretary.
Posted on: 2010-05-26 07:46
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