Joint forum backs strike
RAJEEV RAVIDAS,
TT, Kalimpong, Aug. 23: The Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee today
suggested that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha reject the GTA Sabha in six
months even as it extended its support for the Morcha’s “unilateral
decision” to continue the indefinite shutdown.
The Morcha said
the party had already resolved to dump the GTA and the time-frame set
by the action committee was not important.
The action
committee, a conglomeration of eight organisations formed for a joint
fight for Gorkhaland, said all the constituents were agreed that the GTA
had to be rejected.
Addressing a
press meet here today, Enos Das Pradhan, the chairman of the action
committee, said the Morcha should be given a reasonable time to
implement the decision.
“We have not
set any timeframe. A reasonable time will have to be given. Maybe three
to six months. Six months is the maximum,” he said when asked if the
committee had set a timeframe for the Morcha to reject the GTA.
The action committee had earlier agreed on rejecting the GTA at an “appropriate time”.
Parties like
the CPRM, ABGL and the apolitical Bharatiya Gorkha Parisang had set
aside its quit-GTA-first precondition and joined hands with Morcha to
lead the agitation for Gorkhaland in the wake of the Centre’s decision
to create Telangana and the state government’s perceived moves to crush
the separate state demand in the hills.
Pradhan also
extended the committee’s support to the indefinite strike in the hills
announced unilaterally by the Morcha following the arrest of its
assistant general secretary Binay Tamang and five others on Wednesday
night.
“We appreciate
the circumstances under which Morcha president Bimal Gurung was
compelled to take a unilateral decision (on the strike) yesterday. We
principally extend our support to the programme.”
He also denied that such unilateral decisions would create a rift in the committee.
“We have come
together on the basis of trust. Till such time there is no breakdown of
trust, we will continue to keep our faith.”
Pradhan,
however, said the action committee would try and hold a meeting on
September 26 to review the impact of the strike on the people of the
hills.
Contacted, Morcha spokesman and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, said: “This can be on the agenda in the next meeting.
However, the
timing, I believe, is not of so much importance given that the Morcha
has already taken a decision to abandon the GTA, and there is no going
back from that.”
The Morcha is also a constituent of the joint action committee.
According to the original programme, the strike should have ended today.
Tags: LOCAL
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Share your views...
0 Respones to "Joint forum backs strike"
Post a Comment