Calcutta, June 13: Voicing their support for a separate state of Gorkhaland, a four-member delegation of the CPRM met Bengal home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti in his chamber at Writers’ Buildings this afternoon with a set of demands.

The CPRM is a party formed in 1996 by CPM dissidents, including the likes of former MPs Tamang Dawa Lama and R.B. Rai.

The CPRM delegation to the administrative headquarters of the Bengal government in Calcutta was led by Arun Dattani, a central committee member of the party’s youth wing — the Democratic Revolutionary Youth Federation (DRYF).

The CPRM endorsed the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand for Gorkhaland and demanded the immediate release of their leader Chhatrey Subba.

Subba was arrested eight years ago for an alleged murder attempt on GNLF chief and former administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, Subash Ghisingh.

“Yes, we fully support the Gorkhaland cause, and we want a separate state without further delay. Subba must also be released. The authorities have framed him. He has been behind bars without trial for many years. This should not happen in a democracy,” Dattani said after the meeting.

The CPRM also put forth their demand for Rs 5-lakh — on the lines of the Nandigram package — for the next of kin of 1,200 people who died during the Gorkhaland agitation of the eighties.

“Over two decades ago, 1,200 people were murdered. Relatives of the dead were granted just Rs 8,000 as compensation by the hill council. If the next of kin of those killed in Nandigram can get Rs 5 lakh, why should the families of our martyrs be discriminated against,” asked the DRYF leader.

The CPRM is a part of the People’s Democratic Front, opposed to the GNLF in the hills, together with the ABGL, the Congress, the GNLF(C) and the BJP.

The party has been backing the Morcha from the time it was formed last year.