Kalimpong,3rd April

The death of a mentor, its pilot and a patron for the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) will not stop them from observing their foundation day on Sunday. Christened as ‘Gorkhaland Namkaran Diwas’ the GNLF founded by late Subash Ghisingh will observe the foundation day on Sunday amidst the presence of its new president Mann Ghisingh.
 Maurice Kalikotay, thepresident of the GNLF in Kalimpong confirmed on Friday the presence of junior Ghisingh, who is the son of late Ghisingh. “He is expected to deliver his first public speech here on Sunday and announce the party’s future programmes,” said Kalikotay.
The party plastered posters in the town on Friday announcing its observation of foundation on Sunday. The GNLF formed in 1980 lead by late Subash Ghisingh had steered the Gorkhaland movement during the late eighties for 28 months that killed more than 1200 people before settled for an autonomous body vis-à-vis the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). The party occupied the throne with Ghisingh on top for 20 odd years and finally thrown out of power by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in 2007. Late Ghisingh who recently breathed his last was hounded out from the hills and forced to live in the plains before he could move up to the hills in 2014.
The GNLF which is struggling for its existence has chosen Mann Ghisingh as its new president and harping on the sixth schedule status for Darjeeling. The sixth schedule status was coined by late Ghisingh who claimed that the status is the first step towards Gorkhaland.
However, ever since GJM came into existence the GNLF has not been able to observe its foundation day smoothly and faced disturbance from time to time. Kalikotay on Friday said, “Everyone has the right to perform its party activities in a democratic society"