Darjeeling, May 17 -- GTA Chief Executive and Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) president Anit Thapa has lodged a formal complaint with the Darjeeling Sadar Police Station against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung, accusing him of making inflammatory and provocative public statements allegedly intended to incite aggression, public humiliation and breach of peace. Thapa also alleged that Gurung, in the name of Gorkhaland, had repeatedly betrayed the Gorkhas and turned them into "political pawns."
In the complaint dated May 16, Thapa alleged that Gurung made repeated public remarks urging people to spit on him whenever they encountered him in public. According to the complaint, the remarks were circulated through a social media video on May 15. Thapa stated that the alleged comments were "deliberate and calculated" and had the potential to provoke intimidation, harassment and violence in the politically sensitive Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills.
He claimed that circulation of the video on social media could disturb public peace and encourage unlawful behaviour. Citing provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, Thapa alleged that Gurung's actions attracted sections related to breach of peace, criminal intimidation and defamation, and requested police to immediately register an FIR against him. Addressing party supporters, Thapa alleged that Gurung had repeatedly "betrayed the Hills" during different phases of the Gorkhaland movement. "In 2007 he incited an agitation in the name of Gorkhaland. After many made the supreme sacrifice, he accepted the GTA which was merely a change in the name of the DGHC," alleged Thapa. He further claimed that the development was part of a conspiracy with the then CPI(M)-led State Government to remove former DGHC chief Subash Ghising from the Hills.
Launching a scathing attack, the BGPM president further alleged that when Telangana was carved out in 2013, Gurung gave up the GTA and called for another agitation, plunging the Hills into unrest. "Many died. I was in jail when he went to Kolkata and took oath as GTA Chief for the second time. He has made the Gorkhas political pawns in the name of Gorkhaland," Thapa alleged.
Hill politics has recently witnessed increasing allegations and counter-allegations between the BGPM and GJM over corruption, governance and the GTA. The GJM had recently submitted a memorandum to the Principal Secretary, GTA seeking a probe into alleged anomalies in the GTA, while the BGPM countered by demanding an investigation into alleged corruption during Gurung's tenure as GTA chief and administrator.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.