First ‘deaths’ in Darjeeling as Gorkha strife intensifies
But GJM assistant secretary Binay Tamang alleged that two supporters were gunned down by the police. Additional director general of police (law and order) Anuj Sharma denied police had shot at protesters but local television footage showed forces firing bullets in the air.
“We want judicial inquiry into the firing. Police did not fire rubber bullets or water cannons. They opened fire using .303 bullets. Are we the enemies of India?” Tamang told reporters.
The elections to the autonomous Gorkha Territorial Administration – controlled by the GJM – are due before August.
Thousands of tourists have fled Darjeeling – known as the queen of the hills – since clashes broke out on June 8 between the GJM and the government forces. The hill parties – led by the BJP ally GJM -- have come together to press for a 100-year-old demand to separate Gorkhaland from the plains of West Bengal, a claim bitterly opposed by Banerjee.
These are the first deaths in the protests as violence spirals in the hills following a police raid on the office of GJM chief Bimal Gurung, who is in hiding. Experts fear the bloodshed might lurch Darjeeling back to the unrest of the 80s, when hundreds of people died as the state government brutally suppressed the movement. An autonomous hill council with special administrative powers was set up as a compromise but is riddled with allegations of corruption and government stalling projects.