New Delhi - Business came to standstill Tuesday and scores
of tourists were stranded after a regional party called an indefinite
shutdown in India's eastern Darjeeling demanding a separate state
within India for the Gorkha people.
The strike call by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gorkha People's
Liberation Front) met with a good response as most of the shops,
markets and business establishments remained closed.
Hundreds of tourists had started leaving Darjeeling Monday after
the GJM announced plans to shut down. But officials estimated that
10,000 tourists including dozens of foreign tourists, were stranded
in the nearby Siliguri city in the plains.
Since early Tuesday, GJM activists had started blocking highways
in the region linking Darjeeling to other districts in the eastern
state of West Bengal.
Some outbreaks of violence were reported from the neighbouring
Jalpaiguri district and at least 350 GJM supporters were arrested
after clashes with the local people and police, PTI news agency
reported.
Some people were injured when a 1,000-strong mob blocked the road
in one of the towns and forcibly downed shutters of shops.
Gorkhas are ethnic Nepalis who have long demanded a separate state
called 'Gorkhaland' be carved out of the eastern state of West
Bengal.
The original Gorkhaland insurgency in 1980s claimed more than
1,200 lives ended after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy.
But the GJM has raised demands for a separate state, which has
been rejected by the ruling left-wing government in West Bengal.
GJM chief Bimal Gurung insisted on the demands saying that he
would lift the shutdown only if the federal government called for
talks.
'We will only lift the strike, if the centre calls us for
statehood talks. We are not ready to discuss any other issue. We are
not averse to having the state government at the talks,' Gurung said.
'Tripartite or bipartite talks are possible only if they give up
their demand for a separate state. Until then no talks are possible,'
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told reporters.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story