GJM in Sikkim to build bonds, not play politics, Roshan Giri assures

GJM general secretary, Roshan Giri, addresses the first general meeting of the GJM-Sikkim
held here at a local hotel on Sunday

GJM HOLDS FIRST GENERAL MEETING OF PARTY IN SIKKIM
ANAND OBEROI

The GJM-Sikkim's general meeting began with the
observation of a minute's silence in the memory of lives
lost in the police firing at Sibchu in Dooars

GANGTOK, 13 Feb: “We are here not to interfere with the politics of Sikkim or to indulge in any activity which will disrupt the peace and tranquility here; we are here to strengthen the ‘blood relations’ and ignite the spirit of brotherhood to stand united for a separate state of Gorkhaland. Unity is our only and strongest weapon,” stated Roshan Giri, general secretary of the central committee of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, at the first general meeting of the Sikkim-unit of the GJM held here at a local hotel this evening.
While further clarifying that the GJM has kept NH-31A out of the purview of the bandh for Sikkim traffic and that no disruptions will be made, Mr. Giri explained that picketing had also now stopped along the highway and that no untoward incident had been reported since the first two days since the Sibchu incident [09 and 10 February]. The first couple of days when traffic was disrupted was a spontaneous and emotional response of the people to the killing of three GJM supporters in the police firing at Sibchu, he explained.

“We have decided that our demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland will be a nonviolent movement and remain committed to carrying out all activities like the march to Dooars and Jalpaiguri in a Gandhian way. However, the West Bengal authorities and the administration are playing a dirty game and trying to provoke us, they are trying to make our demand violent and bloody,” he contended.
He further stressed that the GJM had no intentions of disrupting normalcy in the state of Sikkim but expected that the common man from Sikkim too understood what the demand for Gorkhaland was for the “identity of 1.5 crore Gorkhas living in various parts of the country”.
“There is a Gorkha Development Council in Assam and Gorkhas are facing similar problems throughout the country be it Uttrakhand, Dehradun, Jharkhand or Delhi. Thus what the need for everyone in Sikkim to understand is that if we, from Darjeeling, were given a choice to die twice, it would be once for Darjeeling as Gorkhaland and once for Sikkim,” he stated.
While further stressing that the GJM-unit in Sikkim constituted today would now actively enhance and ensure that this feeling of unity among the people of the two regions was always maintained, Mr. Giri stated, “The people’s aspirations cannot be stopped by the government, they may retain us now but till when will they continue to do so. The Centre understands that the need and the demand for Gorkhaland is legitimate and also knows that 1,200 people lost their lives in 1986 for the same demand,” he added.
Here, he also thanked the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling, for raising the Gorkhaland issue at the Internal Security meeting held in Delhi on 01 Feb, a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.
“The Chief Minister of Sikkim has raised this issue at the most appropriate forum for which we are grateful and expect similar support from the leadership and from all sections here in Sikkim. Even the opposition leader here, NB Bhandari has done his part for the issue for which we also thank him. This is what we are here for, to generate this feeling of unity for our cause,” he explained.
“The significance of GJM coming here is that we have taken the demand from the streets to the Parliament now. This is what the people of Sikkim should sympathize with, as the people we are against are such who are now trying to put the blame of the three dead daughters of Gorkhaland on the GJM. These are the people and kind of administration we are pitted against and hence need the unconditional support of the Sikkimese people to stand with us when our human rights are being violated there,” he stressed.
While saying that Sikkim was a separate state and as the nearest neighbour of Darjeeling, it was possible that ‘someone’ would try to sour the relations.
“We do not want Sikkim to suffer and we don’t want any tension for the people here. The possibility that someone will try and misrepresent our case is high,” he said. His reference was to the unspooling of the movement into a violent backlash in Darjeeling recently. “Why will we burn vehicles and offices when we know that this will not solve anything for us? Our’s is a bigger fight and a political one in a democratic setup. Thus we need all the support rather than negative feelings which will not facilitate anything,” he further explained.
Also present today for the meeting were the joint secretary of the central committee of the GJM, Jyoti Rai, president of the GJM’s Rangpo-unit, Tara Chettri and the general secretary of the Rangpo-unit, Puran Subba.
Earlier, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Chalak Sangh, Sikkim, Milan Pradhan, had also requested the GJM high-command to keep NH-31A out of the purview of the bandh in the Darjeeling Hills, which was acknowledged by the GJM general secretary.
The president of the drivers wing of the party here had stated, “We extend all solidarity and support from our neighbours and want to express that our movement will go ahead without hampering our nearest brothers. We expect that resumption of normal flow of traffic along NH-31A will further strengthen the relationship and bond of the people of the two regions”.
The names of the executive body members of the Sikkim branch of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha were also announced at the meeting today, they are:
President- Dipen Dewan
BB Thapa, vice-president,
Sudip Rai, general secretary,
Ajay Megi and Bimal Pradhan- assistant secretaries
Dipu Labar, treasurer,
Bimal Chettri, assistant treasurer
and Saran Karki as advisor.