Angry over the developments in Darjeeling hills, GNLF chief and the interim caretaker of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, Subash Ghisingh on Friday left Siliguri in disgust and arrived in Kolkata, seeking an appointment with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.Ghisingh’s rivals described his sudden departure as an “embarrassing retreat” in the face of a growing public pressure. For the past three days, Ghisingh had been staying at the Pintail village resort near Siliguri in view of picketing on the roads leading to Darjeeling hills. Ghisingh, however, did not make any comment regarding the emerging situation.Bhattacharjee and Ghisingh are scheduled to meet in Kolkata on Saturday at Writers Buildings. In the meantime, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu said Ghising is increasingly finding himself in a difficult situation with many of his former supporters having deserted him. They are the ones who are now turning the heat on Ghisingh, Basu said, after a party secretariat meeting at Alimuddin Street on Friday morning. The Darjeeling Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which had been spearheading the present movement, including a blockade of passage to Subash Ghisingh to Darjeeling hills, said that the GNLF chief had fled the hills in the face of a rising, popular agitation. “Our supporters will not spare him and soon, the Morcha will have its supporters holding demonstration at Gorkha Bhavan in Kolkata where he has taken refuge,” said Bimal Gurung, leader of the Morcha.GNLF sources said that Ghisingh took serious exception to the fact that the administration allowed Janamukti Morcha supporters to assemble in large number near Siliguri chanting fiery slogans. Even a group was allowed to begin a hunger strike almost at the doorstep of Pintail village resort where Ghisingh had been staying for the past three days. Some of the GNLF leaders said that Ghising had shown extreme restraint by asking his supporters not to go for any confrontation at this stage. But the state administration had not responded with equal maturity, the GNLF leader alleged.Meanwhile, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which had given an indefinite strike call in the hills on Friday introduced some relaxation. The Morcha said that normal activity would be allowed in the hills from 10 am to 2 pm. The Morcha reiterated that it did not want the Sixth Schedule status to be granted for Darjeeling.As things stand now, a fresh bout of violence seems to be awaiting the Darjeeling hills. If the Sixth Schedule status is granted for Darjeeling in the current session of Parliament, the Darjeeling Gorkha Janamukti Morcha would be up in arms denouncing it. If the passage of the Bill gets further deferred that would be an extreme embarrassment for Ghisingh who might revert back to his old demand for a separate statehood.
