GJM LEADERS THREATEN IMMOLATION

SILIGURI: The Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha (GJYM) leaders have threatened to launch a Telangana-style movement that will include self-immolation and indefinite hunger strike to mount pressure on the Centre and West Bengal government for statehood to the Darjeeling region.

They said at least 15 people set themselves on fire between December 2009 and March 2012 to press for a separate state of Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh. The new state was eventually born in June 2014.

“When the state and the central governments are not listening to our peaceful agitation, we will be compelled to go for indefinite fast and self-immolation to demand statehood,” Prakash Gurung, the GJYM president, said on Monday.

The Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha (GJYM is the young wing of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the struggle for Gorkhaland.

The long-drawn Gorkhaland stir has recorded a self-immolation before when Mangal Singh Rajput set himself on fire in Kalimpong town in 2013. The statehood movement flared up again when police and Gorkha supporters clashed in Darjeeling on June 8 before over the Trinamool Congress government’s decision to make Bengali a mandatory subject in all schools in the state.

LOCALS GO TO NEPAL, BHUTAN TO USE WEB

THE YOUTH WING CHIEF SAID THEY’LL HAVE TO RESORT TO INDEFINITE FAST, SELFIMMOLATION IF GOVTS DID NOT LISTEN TO THEIR DEMANDS

The government’s attempts to control communication in Darjeeling through an internet ban, has not brought locals to a standstill as many are crossing into neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan to access the web.

“Initially I thought that Internet services would be back in 2-3 days. As the ban was extended, I became restless.

But soon, I realised that I can walk 4 km and reach Pashuati Phatak and access Nepal’s internet services,” said Sukman Rai, 27, a resident of Simana village.