Chattrey Subba

Darjeeling, April 20: The Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) will organise a two-day hunger strike across the Darjeeling hills from Thursday to demand a speedy trial of Chattrey Subba, the chief of the Gorkha Liberation Organisation.

Subba was arrested for his alleged involvement in the assassination attempt on GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh on February 10, 2001. He is currently lodged at the Jalpaiguri central jail and the trial has not yet concluded.

“We have been submitting memorandums to various officials since March 2007. We had also held a dharna in Jalpaiguri, but nothing has happened. We just want the trial to be completed as early as possible. If the hunger strike fails to make an impact, we will launch a stronger agitation,” said Shekar Chhetri, the chief of the Democratic Revolutionary Youth Front, the CPRM’s youth wing.

“We have nothing to say if Subba is proved guilty but the trial must be completed soon,” he added.

The DRYF is spearheading a campaign demanding Subba’s release. Its cadres are scheduled to sit for the hunger strike in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Mirik, Bijanbari and Gorubathan among other places. “Eleven cadres will participate in the hunger strike in each of these places,” said Chhetri.

The DRYF has also planned to stage a sit-in at Writer’s Buildings on the same issue next month.

In another development, the Darjeeling district administration has refused permission to the Legal Rights Awareness Forum, a conglomeration of lawyers, to hold a rally in Siliguri on April 22, condemning the April 9 incident when police rained baton blows on a rally by ex-servicemen demanding Gorkhaland.

The lawyers were planning to bring out a rally from Gurung Bustee to Court More in Siliguri and submit a memorandum to district officials.

“We will not hold the rally now as permission has been denied to us. However, we have taken strong note of the administration’s decision and will hold a meeting soon to chalk out our future plan,” said Poonam Kumar Sharma, the secretary of the forum.

“The government is trying to create a rift between the hills and plains by not allowing us to hold a peaceful rally. We are also thinking of not allowing the CPM to hold its political programmes across the hills,” said Sharma.