GJM boycotts Mamata meets in Darjeeling

Darjeeling, April 22 (IANS) The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) Sunday called for a boycott of all future meetings of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb in the Darjeeling hills.

The call came after the government denied permission to the John Barla-led faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP), supported by the GJM, to hold a rally in the Nagrakata area of Jalpaiguri Sunday.

Both Barla and GJM chief Bimal Gurung were slated to address the rally. Barla has also called for an indefinite shut down in the Terai-Dooars area from April 23.

The Barla-led faction of the ABAVP supports the GJM demand for the inclusion of 398 mouzas (area less than a sub-division) - 196 from Dooars, 199 in Terai and three in Rajganj - in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an autonomous body to run the administration in Darjeeling.

The GJM had earlier threatened a widespread movement to press for their demand. However, after March 24 meeting with Banerjee, its leaders had expressed satisfaction over the declaration of election for the autonomous body in July this year.

The GJM, spearheading the agitation for carving out a separate state of Gorkhaland from the Darjeeling hills in north Bengal, had signed a tripartite agreement with the state and central governments on July 18 last year for setting up the autonomous body with more powers than its predecessor Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council formed in the 1980s.