Shinde assures Morcha,

Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has appealed the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to withdraw its agitation  programmes and assured the Bimal Gurung led delegation that the hill matter will be dealt seriously in the coming days.

The delegation on Tuesday met the home minister giving a clear indication that the GJMCongress friendship has begun to bloom while the ,friendship with Mamata Bannerjee led Trinamool Congress scaled down more. Roshan Giri, the GJM general secretary speaking over phone said that the delegation before meeting the union home minister had prepared a documentation to prove its point as to why Gorkhaland should not be created. “The central leadership has assured us to look upon the matter. We have demanded tribal status to the hill people excluding the scheduled caste community. A demand has also been put once again to withdraw the cases registered against the GJM leaders during the agitation period,” he said. Giri however did not explain why the scheduled caste community has been excluded from their wish to acquire tribal status to rest of the hill community. The hill party’s appeal to withdraw cases against its leaders however comes in at the wake of the CBI arresting 5 youth leaders in connection with the Madan Tamang murder case recently. Tamang was the president of the ABGL. Observers however said that the onus to withdraw cases against the leader during the agitation time lies with the state government more than the central government. Asked whether the party is thinking of withdrawing its programmes at the wake of Shinde’s assurances, Giri shot back saying that the central leadership of the party will decide in the meeting. The GJM has called for a complete shutdown of government offices from March 9 to 27 followed by series of bandhs from March 14-15 and March 21-22. The leaders in Delhi are expected to meet the president of India Pranab Mukherjee.