Darjeeling (WB): Fresh violence on Saturday erupted in Darjeeling hills prompting the state government to call the Army back on the streets as Gorkhaland supporters torched a police outpost, a toy train station and clashed with the police at two places.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading the agitation for a separate state carved out of West Bengal, claimed that two youths were killed in police firing and rejected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s offer of talks.
The police, however, said they did not have any report of firing. Banerjee appealed for peace and said that the government was ready for talks with the hill parties, but peace has to be restored first.
In a statement on Saturday, the GJM, however, said the doors for talks with Banerjee and the state government are “closed forever”.
It said it was willing to holds with the Centre on the issue of Gorkhaland. “If the Centre calls for talks on Grokhaland, we will go,” it said.
The GJM also said while the Basirhat riots had drawn the attention of national parties, the month-long unrest in Darjeeling had failed to attract them.
“We sincerely ask the leaders of the political parties are we in India,” the statement said.
The police burst teargas shells and baton-charged activists of the GJM and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) who attacked the security personnel at Sonada and Chawkbazar in the hills. (PTI)
