A family waits at Tenzing Norgay bus terminus in Siliguri as long distance buses stayed off the roads because of the bandh. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, Jan. 7: Siliguri went into high alert as the Kamtapur Peoples’ Party (KPP) took out a huge procession in the heart of the town, vowing to fight till the end for a separate Kamtapur state.

This is the outfit’s first public demonstration since Jalpaiguri police claimed that captured KLO rebels had revealed the KPP’s link with the guerrilla group.

Around 2,500 activists participated in today’s mahamichil that took off from Darjeeling More and ended at Bagha Jatin Park, moving down a near-empty Hill Cart Road.

Traffic disruption was reduced to a minimum on the arterial road since the town had already downed shutters for a 24-hour bandh called by the Naxalites in north Bengal.

The KPP also used the rally, which was held as part of the 7-year-old party’s foundation day programme, to once again reassert it had no links with the militant KLO with which it has been clubbed so often.

The entire stretch covered by the rally was teeming with security personnel as Siliguri was on a heightened level of security with high levels of police patrolling also because of the bandh called by the Naxalites.

The police cordoned off the Siliguri CPM office on Hill Cart Road while temporary pickets were placed at Air View More, Housmi Chawk and Siliguri subdivisional court.

Darjeeling superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra who was in Siliguri today said: “We did not want to leave anything to chance. We had to be more cautious because of the bandh called by the Naxalites in north Bengal today. However, the KPP procession was entirely peaceful in nature. The combat force was, however, deployed to stop any untoward incident.”

Carrying banners and placards reading “fight for rights” or “police stop atrocities on innocent Kamtapuris”, the rallyists shouted slogans slamming the state government for muzzling a “peaceful and democratic” social movement.

The procession saw a large turnout of women activists and also children who vowed to fight for their rights with renewed fervour in the face of repression and police torture.

Later at Bagha Jatin park, senior party leaders addressed a gathering and KPP’s founder president spoke of the rally’s symbolic significance.

“Today’s mahamichil carries a lot of significance, since we have proved once again that our social movement is far from over. Our supporters decided to come out spontaneously in support of the rally even on a bandh day. We also want to make it clear that we have no connections with the militant KLO. Our political fortunes will not be affected by the Bhutan offensive,” said Atul.

Formed in 1996, the KPP has always maintained that its fight for the rights of the ethnic Rajbanshis in north Bengal is a democratic movement and different from that of the KLO, though the goal of both the outfits is the same.