Darjeeling simmers in indefinite shutdown; Mamata ‘ready for talks’
DARJEELING: Trouble-hit Darjeeling continued to simmer on Saturday as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) sponsored indefinite shutdown entered the sixth day with police raiding and allegedly vandalising the residence of party assistant general secretary Binay Tamang.
The “Queen of Hills” virtually turned into a battlefield as protests marked the shutdown which was countered by supporters of Bengal’s ruling the Trinamool Congress and dominant hill party, the GJM.
Widespread protests erupted in Singamari (northern point of Darjeeling) as the women’s wing of the GJM rallied with shrill sloganeering against the raid at Tamang’s residence.
Hundreds of women activists ratcheted up the demand for the separate state of Gorkhaland with slogans of “Gorkhaland Gorkhaland” holding aloft the tricolour.
Police fired tear gas shells as the women activists pelted stones and pushed back at the police barricade shouting “Police Go Back”.
At around 3 am, on Saturday, Tamang claimed his house was “raided and vandalised by the police and the Trinamool Congress cadres” in the same manner as they had raided party chief Bimal Gurung’s house in Dar- jeeling district two days ago. Tamang also claimed police arrested Vikram Rai, son of GJM MLA Amar Rai.
Mamata condemns violence: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly condemned the violence unleashed by the GJM in Darjeeling and said her government is ready to initiate a dialogue with the party in a conducive environment.
Banerjee, who chaired a high level meet at the state secretariat in Na- banna that was participated by various development boards of the hills, said an all-party meeting will be held in Siliguri on June 22 to discuss the growing unrest in the northern West Bengal hills.