GJM announces two-day shutdown of Darjeeling

DARJEELING , AUG 22 - The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha ( GJM ) Thursday gave a call for a two-day shutdown in West Bengal's Darjeeling Hills in the wake of the arrest earlier in the day of its assistant general secretary Benoy Tamang along with six party workers. "The Hills will be closed on Saturday and Sunday to condemn the unwarranted arrest of GJM leaders," GJM supremo Bimal Gurung said. Tamang, a close associate of the GJM supremo, is also the senior-most of the GJM leaders to be arrested so far. He is, however, only one of nearly 700 party activists held by state authorities since the renewed protests for the formation of a separate Gorkhaland began last month, after the United Progressive Alliance at the centre approved the carving out of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. "Tamang and the others were rounded up from Rangpo in connection with cases like putting up road blocks and preventing police officers from carrying out their duties," Kalimpong sub-division Additional Superintendent of Police Sangmit Lepcha said. Top GJM leader arrested GJM assistant general secretary Tamang was arrested Thursday along with six of his party workers from near the West Bengal-Sikkim border in Darjeeling district, police said. Tamang, a close associate of GJM supremo Gurung is the highest-ranking leader of the party to be arrested since the West Bengal government started a crackdown on its leaders. Forty GJM activists were taken into custody since Wednesday night, district Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal said. Since the party began a fresh agitation for the carving of a separate Gorkhaland in the wake of the announcement of the formation of Telangana last month, 710 GJM activists have been arrested.

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