Stir on hold after thunderstorm

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Tuesday suspended its agitation for the separate state of Gorkhaland for two days after a thunderstorm swept through the hills uprooting trees and snapping electric wires and telephone cables in Darjeeling,Kurseong and Kalimpong towns on Monday night. Two persons were injured in the thunderstorm. “The agitation will be resumed on August 22 or 23,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri.

In a post on social networking website Facebook,GJM president Bimal Gurung claimed that their “janata curfew” protest (people remaining inside their homes),which concluded on Monday,was “a huge success”. He wrote that the party’s next phase of agitation will be peaceful rallies,”janata sadak ma” (people on the roads),for four days beginning from August 22 with a “huge rally”.