Candlelight rally to mourn Tamang, FIR against GJM leaders

DARJEELING - A huge candlelight procession was taken out in Darjeeling Saturday evening to mourn the death of Gorkha leader Madan Tamang, a day after he was stabbed to death. Darjeeling continued to be tense as police complaints were filed against 13 people, including Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung, in connection with the murder.

Apart from Gurung, a first information report (FIR) was also filed against GJM secretary Roshan Giri, while 45 people were detained and raids were on to nab more people.

“Cases will be started against them soon,” a police officer said.

Darjeeling district acting Superintendent of police Gourav Sharma was leading the raids that started soon after Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) leader Tamang was stabbed to death Friday near the Planters’ Club here while he making preparations for a party rally later in the day.

Around 1,000 people joined the silent candlelight rally in Darjeeling town to mourn the death of Tamang, whose body has been kept at his house on Gandhi Road.

The procession, sans any political flags, started from the popular Mall, and snaked through various roads of the town that had been the epicenter of Tamang’s political activities for over four decades. Elaborate police arrangements were made to prevent any untoward incident during the rally, said Darjeeling District Magistrate Surendra Gupta.

Three people who were injured in police firing Friday after the attack on Tamang near the Planters’ Club and Keventers were being treated in hospital. While two were admitted at the Darjeeling district Hospital, a critically injured youth was being attended to at a nursing home in Siliguri.

Tamang, 64, who led the anti-GJM Democratic Front in the Darjeeling Hills, died of stomach and shoulder injuries after he was attacked with a khukri (long knife used by Nepalis) and swords on Laden La Road around 9.30 a.m. Friday.

ABGL general secretary Laxman Pradhan blamed the GJM for the killing. The GJM has denied its involvement and instead blamed the state administration.

Tamang’s body would be taken to his ancestral house at Magma under Sukhi Pokhri police station for cremation as per Buddhist rituals Monday, ABGL sources said.

Securitymen guarding West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan, who is now in Darjeeling, have also been put on high alert in view of Tamang’s killing and the resultant tension.

Panic was palpable in Darjeeling town with only a handful of shops and markets opening Saturday and very few people seen on the roads. In Kurseong sub-division, most of the shops and markets were closed for the second consecutive day.

Gupta said despite a demand from the district administration, fresh reinforcements of central paramilitary troopers have not been sent so far. However, a platoon of the India Reserve Battalion and about 50 personnel of the state armed police reached Darjeeling town Friday.