Gorkha Janamukti Morcha rules out demand for separate state

In what could be music to the ears of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, currently on a visit to Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha Tuesday virtually ruled out the demand for the creation of a separate state as is being asked for by Telangana protesters."Telangana has a different perspective and Darjeeling has a different perspective," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said from Darjeeling.The issue of Telangana and the issue of Darjeeling though on the same lines have to be viewed differently," he said when asked about his party's response if the Centre agreed to a separate Telangana state.Earlier, the GJM had insisted that if there could be a separate state of Telangana, there should also be a separate state of Gorkhaland."We can survive together and we can live in the state," GJM central committee MLA and the party MLA from Kalimpong Harka Bahadur Chhetri added referring to the people in Darjeeling hills and adjoining plain areas in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal."Mamata Banerjee is a woman who works. We believe her," Chetri said.Referring to the previous Left Front rule, he alleged an attempt was made to create a division between the people of the hills and the plains.

GJM chief Bimal Gurung who led a party team to meet the chief minister at a guest house last evening, said "I am happy with the meeting."We informed the chief minister about our grievances. We are children. She is our mother. We can make demands to our mother."A Gorkha Women's wing delegation led by Gurung's wife Asha tried to impress upon the chief minister the need to include Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai in the jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the new council which will run the administration in the hills.The GTA agreement was signed on July 18 at Sukna in the presence of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and the chief minister and passed in the Assembly recently.