Members of Roop-Katha, a theatre group from Cooch Behar, in Darjeeling with a message of unity between the people of the hills and the plains. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, June 24: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today lashed out at Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling and Congress MP from Darjeeling Dawa Narbula for not raising their voices in support of Gorkhaland.

“We do not want to force Pawan Chamling to do something, but when students from his state were beaten up he could have at least spoken up on humanitarian grounds. The people of Sikkim and Darjeeling are separated only by the Rangeet and the Teesta, but the rivers also meet at a particular point. No one would have cut out his tongue had he said a word or two in favour of Gorkhaland,” Gurung said in Darjeeling today.

The Morcha chief was referring to the incidents in Siliguri in which hill students were harassed and allegedly beaten up by those opposed to the Gorkhaland demand.

While the Morcha’s indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills has hit Sikkim hard, Gurung said his party had not blocked NH31A, the lifeline of the Himalayan state, out of enmity. “The highway was blocked because it falls within our area. We had hoped that Chamling would at least speak to the Centre about the difficulties being faced by the people of his state,” he said.

A couple of years ago, Chamling had publicly backed the Gorkhaland demand and had even said his government was willing to pass a resolution in favour of the separate state in the Sikkim Assembly.

Gurung also laid into Narbula. “So many incidents happened and our people had to bear the brunt of it all. Yet Dawa Narbula failed to do anything. He did not raise the issue in Parliament and proved that he was an MP only for himself and not for the hill people,” said the Morcha chief.

Narbula, however, claimed that there had been “a miscommunication” between him and the Morcha. “They are not in touch with me, but I am constantly raising my voice (for the hill people),” said Narbula this evening.

“An hour ago, I received an acknowledgement from (home minister) Shivraj Patil regarding the letter I had written on June 12 about the problems facing our people. I have been invited for a meeting with him at 7.45pm today and will definitely speak in favour of Gorkhaland,” Narbula added.