GJM calls off 104-day strike in Darjeeling after Rajnath appeal

New Delhi/Darjeeling: The indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has been suspended on Wednesday morning. 

The decision to withdraw the shutdown which had paralysed the hills for the past 104 days was taken on Tuesday by GJM chief Bimal Gurung on Tuesday evening in response to appeal by Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

The indefinite shutdown by for a separate state of Gorkhaland had begun on June 15.

“Our party supremo Bimal Gurung has decided to suspend the indefinite shutdown in the hills from 6 am tomorrow morning for an indefinite period. The decision was taken after Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s appeal to withdraw the strike,” GJM vice-president Kalyan Dewan told a news agency.

The home minister had appealed to GJM to withdraw the ongoing strike in Darjeeling for a separate Gorkhaland state.

Singh has also directed Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to convene a meeting of senior officials to examine all outstanding issues.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the home minister stressed that in democracy all issues could be resolved through a dialogue within the framework of legal provisions.

In a statement, the home minister said that in a democracy, dialogue is the only way out to resolve any problem and solutions can be found through restraint and mutual dialogue within the legal ambit.

Although, the strike was officially on in the Hills but for the past one week most of the shops and markets were open defying the diktats by GJM leadership.

Reacting to the GJM’s decision, West Bengal tourism minister and Trinamool Congress leader Gautam Deb said the central government has provided a face saver to GJM supremo Bimal Gurung.

More than 80 per cent of the shops and markets in the Hills have already opened up defying Gurung, he said.

“My question is what took the central government so long and that too when the situation in the Hills has already normalised,” he said.