A word of Caution

A WORD OF CAUTION

Someone once said, “Snowflakes like people are all different and beautiful, but they can be a nuisance when they lose their identity in a mob.” What happened in Darjeeling Hills this past week cannot be justified in any manner civilized or dignified.

To begin with there was the shooting of an innocent civilian Pramila Sharma, aged 36 when she was struck by a bullet fired from the house of a former DGHC councilor and GNLF Darjeeling Branch President, Mr. Deepak Gurung. It is alleged that GNLF had been storing firearms with the intention of assassinating certain people, which would have brought this party back from its present state of political wilderness. How rational is this?? Were GNLF councilors deciding to make Darjeeling another civil war zone like present day Iraq??

Barun Roy of Himalayan Beacon was the 1st person to bring this news to people living outside Darjeeling before anyone else, and he did a remarkable job in informing the truth as it was. He did not sensationalize the news in any way; it was done later by the local dailies and national news channels. Reporting on July 25th as soon as the incident had taken place Barun Roy had written, “…. Anu Sharma, Pramila’s sister said that Pramila was not even the part of the GJM Rally and was returning with her friends after attending a religious function.” By the time local dailies and national news channels got to reporting the death of an innocent civilian slowly transformed into the death of a GJMM supporter over the hours and by the next day to the death of a GJMM Woman Leader. Remember this is the same press that had failed to report when our ex-servicemen and women were being brutally beaten up by the CPI (M) cadres in Siliguri few months back.

Whether Pramila was a GJMM activist or not will now never be known, as now she has been declared “The 1st GJMM Saheed (martyr).” This point may seem unimportant to many but, without Pramila being a GJMM activist how could GJMM justify the outrage of its supporters which lead to widespread violence and destruction of properties belonging to former GNLF leaders?? Or is it really the GJMM and its supporters who are to be blamed??? I would say “NO”, as I don’t see GJMM supporters going on a rampage like this without being pushed to do so. But pushed by whom?? Let’s look at some possible angles.

CPI (M) recently had to bear the humiliation of its bluff being called, when it lost the vote of no-confidence motion against the Congress government. It is going though the various stages of emotional breakdown, and currently it is in a state of anger. The only place it can vent out its anger without having to fear about other political parties cashing in is Darjeeling. It is a well known fact that all the political parties in West Bengal [except SUCI and CPI (ML)] are united against the formation of Gorkhaland, and CPI (M) can do as it pleases without having to fear retribution. Could it have been the body guard of Mr. Deepak Gurung, provided by the West Bengal government who fired on Pramila Sharma?? Had that body guard been specifically ordered to fire at the GJMM rallysts, by his superiors??? Hoping that this will lead to a full scale fight among the Gorkhali’s once again, like in the 1980s.

A forensic examination of the bullet conducted by CBI should help ascertain that the bullet was not government issued. Otherwise the state government will have lots to explain. I hope that GJM will demand a CBI inquiry into the murder of Pramila Sharma, as the state government is the most prominent suspect and truth should come out.

The next question is who was leading the mob that day? From my personal experience, when one goes to a public rally majority of the people are from outside the area, hence, there must have been some one or a group of people who knew exactly whose house was to be ransacked or whose vehicles burnt?? GJMM should keep in mind that not everyone who has joined GJMM is sincere and equally dedicated towards Gorkhaland. There are many a people who have joined the movement just for the sake of fulfilling their vested interest. These people do not have any character or integrity, for them their personal selfish interests rank over Gorkhaland on any given day. GJMM should identify these elements and distance itself from these people, as they pose greater threat to the Gorkhaland movement than CPI (M) or its frontal organizations. Needless to say these are the same people who did the same things when GNLF was in power.

There is a section of people who are overzealous and have this misplaced sense of loyalty. In order to prove that they are the astute GJMM supporter and capable of providing leadership to their area, they may end up doing something stupid. For instance someone started compulsory GJMM membership to all people intending to undertake business in Jaldhaka and Bijanbari areas and issued GJMM identity cards. GJMM central leadership was not even aware of this and GJMM secretary Mr. Roshan Giri had to publicly deplore this act. At times acts like these may be done by people with sincere but misplaced emotions, but what are the chances that at other times people with vested interest may not be doing so specifically to harm the reputation and public image of GJMM??


Darjeeling has gone through this phase once in 1980s; I still remember how the tea gardens had suffered back then. Houses were not just being burned because people supported or opposed Gorkhaland, but many a times houses were burned just to settle personal vendetta. Seems like the people living in tea gardens and busty’s have learned from that era and we have not yet heard of house burning in the tea gardens or busty’s… However, the trend seems to be fast becoming a fashion in the town areas. Today it was the houses of the former GNLF councilors; tomorrow it may be any one’s house. All it may take is for someone to say that this person is anti-GJMM and Gorkhaland. I sincerely hope and request GJMM to kindly identify people who are not sincere and are mischievous and malicious by their very nature, so that the reputation and image of GJMM is not tarnished.

With prayers and humble sympathy for the departed, I request our people not to be swayed by people who may have vested interest. Our goal is Gorkhaland and we need discipline, dedication, sincerity and strength of character for achieving it.

Finally, I leave you all with immortals lines as stated by the great George Washington, “nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another.”

Hope! I made some sense