Darjeeling legislators seek clarification for 'indiscriminate killing' during Gorkhaland agitation

Darjeeling district legislators have demanded that India's West Bengal state government give proper clarification regarding the killing of 1,200 people by its police two decades ago when the 'Gorkhaland' agitation was at its peak.

According to Kantipur daily, legislators Gaulan Lepcha and Pranaya Rai had put forth this demand before WB chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya at the Kolkata legislative assembly Thursday.

After chief minister Bhattcharya gave clarification for the shoot-out that took place at Dinhata of West Bengal during the Thursday's session of the parliament, the Nepali speaking legislators had demanded that the government also give similar clarification regarding the people who were martyred during the Gorkhaland agitation that broke out in the year 1986. Similarly, they have also sought an explanation regarding the killing of Krishna Subba and Dev Raj Sharma by the state police on August 7, 1981.

They said that the police took the lives of more than 1,200 people during the Gorkhaland agitation by indiscriminately firing at the protestors demanding a separate Gorkhaland state. Thousands of people were also injured and rendered homeless during the agitation.

"The government should own up the responsibility for all the killing that took place during the agitation," Lepcha said, "or else we would engage in further protest." nepalnews.com ag Mar 15 08