Darjeeling stir: GJM chief Bimal Gurung, Secy Roshan Giri, 43 others resign from GTA

In a bid to step up their stir for a separate state in the Darjeeling Hills, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leaders have quit the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

“Today we have decided to resign from the GTA. The resignations will be submitted to the principal secretary of GTA,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI on Thursday. The GJM supremo Bimal Gurung, who is in hiding, also put in his papers.

He said the GTA has been turned into a “farce” by the West Bengal government and the GJM and the people of the hills will fight for the single agenda of a separate Gorkhaland.

The GJM’s decision to resign from GTA came two days after the all party meeting in the hills where it was decided that the party will withdraw from the tripartite GTA Accord.

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In the June 20 meeting all the 14 influential political parties and public organisations of the hills had unanimously declared their support to the longstanding demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in north Bengal.

The GJM is spearheading the agitation for a separate state and its indefinite shutdown, which has paralysed hit the normal life in the hills, entered its ninth day on Friday. 

The GJM has been ruling GTA since 2012 and its five-year term is set to expire this year.