Updated on
Summary
Intensifying their movement to press their demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJMM) has embarked on a road blockade programme beginning Thursday in India's eastern Darjeeling hills. The activists plan to block roads for two-hours every day between 10 in the morning till noon. The agitation will continue till February 07. The activists said they were willing to go to any lengths to get their separate state. Two youths committed suicide to press for the cause of Telangana. We also have thousands of youth here who have taken a pledge and are ready to do anything for their cause. As you know, people have been sitting on hunger strike for past 27 days for Gorkhaland state, but we want that we should go about the movement in a peaceful and democratic way, said Sankar Adhikary, Convener, Central Committee, GJMM. The activists of the students wing of the GJMM are already sitting on a hunger strike. Gorkhas have been demanding a separate state, to be carved out West Bengal state, to help them protect their ethnic and cultural heritage. The demand for Gorkhaland gained momentum after New Delhi announced earlier last month that it would carve out the new state of Telangana out of the present state of Andhra Pradesh in south India. However, protests ended a few years later after the Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy. The Gorkha population in West Bengal is around one million out of over 80 million.
