GJMM completes one year, Delete ‘Bengal’: Morcha to hills

GJMM celebrates its first anniversary
DT Correspondent

DARJEELING 7TH October: Today GJM celebrated a full year of successful campaign for Gorkhaland. The party on this very day last year was named officially as above and its new flag unfurled. The celebration was marked by speeches by the various portfolio holders of the party and several cultural shows. Beginning today as part of the separate state movement was also the wearing of the respective cultural attires by one and all. This has been the talk of the town from the time this ‘appeal’ was made by the party. The party was not disappointed today as almost all present in Chowrasta had their attires on, be it the ‘daura suruwal’, ‘chowbandi’, ‘kurtas’ or at the least a ‘nepali topi’. Darjeeling this way looked totally different and so the beginning of Dasain was something like no one had ever seen before. This gives Dasain, Darjeeling and its denizens a distinct cultural flavour. The party chief Bimal Gurung was very much an integral part of the celebration as he appealed to the people concerning the dress code to support him, the party and the cause as it was a very small but important sacrifice that the people were asked to make. He proposed that there will come a time where people will be asked to make stronger sacrifices for the movement. Later in the programme Mrs.Gurung also present, felicitated many on the occasion. Both of them were dressed in the traditional daura suruwal and chowbandi respectively.

         People seemed to be happy about this metamorphosis which they feel has given a distinct and renewed identity. “I quite enjoy wearing it, coz its once in a life time opportunity for me” said an elated young college youth. Another middle - aged gentleman proudly expressed “I wear this attire not out of force or out of choice but out of respect for my culture. I shall wear it till I die”. Some not at all bothered about identity or such high ideas discovered that a ‘daura suruwal’ especially the ‘suruwal’ was not warm enough and handling a ‘fariya’ is not as easy as it seems. Others were too excited wearing theirs for the first time. Unlike all the ones who were just happy or excited there were some who felt that wearing it by compulsion had lessened the excitement. Downtown in the afternoon lacked the usual ‘Dasain’ crowd as a large number of people preferred to stay indoors to avoid wearing. As of now, no types of picketing for the dress code have been reported in the Darjeeling Hills.

Only the following weeks will show how seriously the dress code implementation has been taken.

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Delete ‘Bengal’: Morcha to hills
- Signboards to be replaced with ‘Gorkhaland’ from Oct. 17 OUR BUREAU - The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Oct. 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today announced that all government signboards which had “West Bengal” written on them would be replaced by “Gorkhaland” from October 17 as part of the party’s non-cooperation movement for a separate state.

Morcha president Bimal Gurung while addressing a public meeting to celebrate the first anniversary of the party’s foundation day at Chowrastha said: “We will change all signboards of government offices where ‘West Bengal’ is written to ‘Gorkhaland’ from October 17 onwards. This is part of the non-cooperation movement which will get stronger once the festivities are over.”

Dressed in a cream duara sural, the traditional dress of the Gorkhas, Gurung said his party would not “force” any resident of the hills to take part in the cultural movement.

All hill communities had been asked to wear their traditional attires for a month, starting today.

”I had only made an appeal, not forced anybody. People say they are ready to sacrifice their lives for Gorkhaland but I only wanted them to wear daura sural or the traditional dresses of their respective communities. We will not try to enforce this cultural movement, but at the same time those who do not take part in it, will be considered as opposing the demand for Gorkhaland,” said Gurung.

In Darjeeling, almost all residents, including members of minority communities like Kashmiris, Bengalis, Biharis, Marwaris and Tibetans were dressed in their traditional attires. Around 40km away in Kurseong, many people said they could not wear traditional dresses because the tailors could not deliver on time.

“Like me, many people will wear the dress, once the tailors finish them,” said Raju Pradhan a resident of the hill town. At the foundation day celebration programme held in town, the Morcha felicitated Rev. Father Abraham for his contribution to social work. He was given Rs 10,000 and a replica of the khukuri. The Morcha flag was hoisted at 11.19am, as had been scheduled all over the hills.

Back in Darjeeling, the Morcha president urged people to pay electricity bills for the next three months. “Even Gandhi had softened his movement at times. However, I have told the chief minister that we will not pay the outstanding dues till September. We will pay the electricity bills only for the next three months. After that we will review this relaxation.”

The Morcha call for non-payment of power bills was enforced in April and from then on the government had incurred a loss of Rs 9.3 crore, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said. “If people clear their dues it is their personal issue. We have told the state that there is no way we will ask the people to pay the dues.”

The Morcha also wants all vehicles to start sporting “GL” number plates from today onwards. Private vehicles in the hills had started using the “new” number plates from the first week of August.

Gurung also clarified that the party had not stopped Opposition outfits from holding public meetings. “We only want to say you must first garner public support. If the people are not happy with the meeting, we will not be responsible for their reaction.”

The Morcha president said Gorkhaland would be a reality by 2010. “Irrespective of what other political parties say, I will never compromise on the statehood demand.”

The Gorkhland Personnel, a voluntary cell of the party, took part in a march past today and are expected to be “posted” across the hills from tomorrow to help out tourists.

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Signboards to flaunt ‘Gorkhaland’ from 17 Oct
Statesman News Service

DARJEELING, Oct. 7: The GJMM, on its foundation day today, issued another diktat publicly. It requires all signboards to have ‘Gorkhaland’ written on those instead of ‘West Bengal’ on and from 17 October. “It is our non-cooperation movement. We differ with West Bengal in all aspects and this should be implemented in areas within Gorkhaland territory,” said party president Mr Bimal Gurung. This forms a part of the milder programmes of the GJMM for the festive season to encourage tourism in Darjeeling. “We shall intensify the agitation after the pujas. As tourists are here now, we should enjoy and entertain them with cultural programmes,” Mr Gurung said.

Incidentally, by the GJMM's previous declaration, GL plates are compulsory for every vehicle coming from plains to the Hills from today. On more rigid lines, Mr Gurung said he would set his womens' wing after those who disobeyed. “The Nari Morcha will strictly supervise GL plate implementation. No vehicle will sport WB plates in the hills from today,” he said.

As the day also coincided with the GJMM''s dress code diktat, Mr Gurung and his fellow leaders dressed in the traditional attire of ‘daura suruwal’to grace the foundation day ceremony. The GLP activists and ex-armymen presented a guard of honour to the GJMM president after the flag hoisting ceremony at 11:19 a.m. After inspecting the GLP platoon, the leader waved benevolently at his supporters who responded with equal enthusiasm before taking his seat on the dais.

Later, in his speech the GJMM leadership stated though the GJMM did not impose the ‘daura suruwal,’ ‘chowbandi choli’ and ‘faria’ on anybody. “But, those who did not wear those would be identified as anti-Gorkhaland,” they said. It may be mentioned that the Lepcha's and Tamangs had sought to wear their own cultural dress, which Mr Gurung had granted. They were seen wearing their respective costumes today.