Darjeeling
The ongoing protest in Darjeeling by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) turned violent on Thursday on that time when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banarjee was present in the town with her ministers. Army have been deployed after the GJM has called a 12-hour bandh from 6 am on Friday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who held her first Cabinet meeting at the Darjeeling Raj Bhavan, later told reporters: “ The GJM are trying to make an issue out of a non-issue. This is not the way. We are trying to bring in development and we are here because of the people in the hills.’’
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is protesting against the proposal to make Bengali language compulsory in government schools.
Mamata announced that Bengali would be compulsorily taught to students up to class 10 in schools.
The GJM has been demanding Nepali as a language instead of Bengali or can accept Hindi, but is strictly against the making of Bengali mandatory in all schools across the state.
The West Bengal government called out the Army in Darjeeling on Thursday after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) protest against the “forced imposition of Bengali language’’ in state schools turned violent with police vehicles being torched and policemen attacked. The protestors shouted slogans and burnt effigies of the chief minister. Police vehicles and a government bus were set afire and the police were attacked with stones and bottles by the GJM protesters.
