Darjeeling: Tripura tribal party holds protests backing Gorkhaland

Image: PTI/File

New Delhi: It's been mote than a week now on Saturday and normal life continued to be crippled in Darjeeling as a result of the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown. A Tripura tribal party organised rallies in 29 places across the state on Saturday to support the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in West Bengal's Darjeeling. Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal based party in Left-ruled Tripura, held rallies and protest demonstrations in 29 places under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas. "We not only support the separate Gorkhaland state in West Bengal, we also strongly condemn the atrocities on the leaders and members of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM)," IPFT President Narendra Chandra Debbarma told reporters here. The IPFT has for the past few years been agitating for the creation of a separate state, carved out by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) area. The TTAADC was formed in 1987 under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to protect and safeguard the political, economic and cultural interests of the tribals. The IPFT has announced blockading of National Highway-8 and the rail tracks for an indefinite period from July 10 in support of their demand. NH-8 maintains the surface connection between the land-locked state and the rest of the country through Assam. The politically-important TTAADC constitutes two-third of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area and 1,216,465 (mostly tribals) of the state's total 37 lakh population reside in the areas. Almost all the political parties in Tripura have opposed the IPFT's demand for a separate state. Gorkhaland is a proposed state demanded by the people of the Darjeeling Hills. The people of Nepali-Indian Gorkhas ethnic origin on the Northern part of West Bengal are demanding Gorkhaland on the basis of linguistic and cultural difference with regard to Bengali culture. In the form of several strikes, rallies, the demand is still smoldering so is the Darjeeling city. Movement for Gorkhaland has gained force in the line of an ethno-linguistic-cultural sentiment of the Nepali language speaking Indian people who aspire to identify themselves as Indian Gorkhas. Till date, two mass movements for Gorkhaland have taken place--one under the Gorkha National Liberation Front (1986–1988) and the second under Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) (2007–present). (With inputs from IANS)