Darjeeling, Aug. 19: The youth wing of the CPRM, the Democratic Revolutionary Youth Front, has decided to observe August 22 — the day the DGHC Accord was signed in 1988 — as “Betrayal Day”.

They claim that the aspiration of the hill people for a separate state was betrayed on that day. The day is observed as Accord Day by the GNLF and DGHC has been observing a holiday to celebrate the occasion.

The youth wing of the CPRM has started a mass campaign to highlight the fact that the GNLF had “agreed to drop the demand for Gorkhaland” at the time the accord was signed.

The front plans to distribute pamphlets it has printed regarding the memorandum of settlement.

The pamphlet mentions that the issue of a “separate state of Gorkhaland” was dropped during the signing of the accord by Subash Ghisingh, the GNLF president, Jyoti Basu, the then chief minister, and senior officials of the state and central governments.

The GNLF said it had agreed to drop the demand of a separate state of Gorkhaland in the “overall national interest”.

“During the 28-month agitation, many people lost their lives and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed, but what have we achieved?” asked Madan Tamang, president, DRYF.

Tamang said only a handful of people and a few councillors were benefiting and that “corruption and murders had reached their height” in the hills.

The DRYF has also criticised the decision to exclude the Nepali dominated areas of the Terai and Dooars from the purview of the DGHC.

The front has stated that the people in these areas had also supported the agitation only to receive a step-motherly treatment after the DGHC was formed.

The DRYF has decided to make the failure of the GNLF to achieve Gorkhaland the main issue during its observation of the “betrayal day”.

The front will organise a massive rally at Kalimpong on August 22 at Damber Chowk, to urge people “to mould their own future”