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The supporters of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), demanding a separate state, to be carved out of West Bengal for the Nepali speakers, stopped a bus carrying tourists evacuated from Darjeeling and pelted stones at them. The attack on the tourists’ bus occurred at Kalijhora on Tuesday evening. Darjeeling is on an indefinite strike called by GJM leaders and in Dooars, an area just below Darjeeling hills there is widespread violence.
The Darjeeling administration has sent an SOS to the state government for paramilitary forces owing to the tense situation in the region. In the middle of all this chaos, hundreds of tourists are stranded in Darjeeling and Sikkim. Efforts are now being made by the state government to bring them to Siliguri. The Darjeeling district administration claims that it has evacuated over 90 percent tourists so far.
The West Bengal state government even arranged for a special train that left that left Siliguri late Tuesday night and 15 buses to ferry the stranded to Kolkata. There is a total bandh in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that talks with GJM will be held only if set asides its demand of a separate state. The chief minister remarked that he is willing to increase Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council’s financial and administrative powers, but not a separate state.
