GJM chief Bimal Gurung surfaces in Kolkata, pledges support to Mamata

Kolkata, Oct 21 : Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung, who was absconding since 2017 after he was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, resurfaced in Kolkata on Wednesday evening at the Gorkha Bhavan in the city’s satellite township of Salt Lake.
“We are not moving away from our Gorkhaland demand. We will only support the party which will take it forward. The Centre didn’t meet the commitment it made to us. But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fulfilled all the promises she made,” Gurung told a press conference here.
Gurung said that his party would support the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.
“I am breaking all my ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as it never fulfilled its promise of a separate statehood for Gorkhaland. I would like to separate myself from the NDA. I would like to break our ties with the BJP,” he said, adding that GJM will forge an alliance with Trinamool and give a befitting reply to the BJP through an electoral mandate in the hills.
Gurung was charged under the UAPA in connection with a grenade attack at the Kalimpong police station and an explosion in Darjeeling’s Chowk Bazaar area in 2017. He was absconding for the past three years.
Calling Mamata Banerjee his political idol, the GJM chief said: “There is no permanent friend and enemy in politics. I am a political leader. I am not an anti-social or anti-national. I will be happy even if I am arrested today after the press conference.”