The West Bengal Police on Wednesday sealed the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s central office in Darjeeling’s Singmari area on the orders of the district magistrate.
The district administration alleged that the Gorkha body’s office was built on encroached land, India Today reported. After sealing the office, the district magistrate pasted a notice on the building’s gate, which read: “This property and land belongs to the Government of West Bengal. Entry is forbidden.”
In September, the West Bengal Police had launched a massive search for Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung (pictured above), who has been absconding. He had said he would make a public appearance on Monday, but shelved his plan later, DNA reported.
Darjeeling has been tense since June, when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her decision to make Bengali compulsory in state-run schools. Although she had said Hill districts would be exempted from the rule, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha began an agitation, which soon turned into a revival of the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
On August 29, Banerjee, after talks with several leaders of political parties in Darjeeling, had said creating a separate state of Gorkhaland was beyond the state’s jurisdiction. She had said the talks were “fruitful, constructive and positive”, and that the government had requested the Gorkha body to withdraw its strike in the tourist town.
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