Shutdown in India's famed Darjeeling tea region

Jul 14, 2009, 9:13 GMT

   New Delhi - Hundreds of activists blocked roads while shops and offices remained closed Tuesday after a regional party called an indefinite strike in India's eastern Darjeeling region demanding a separate state within the country for the Gorkha people.

   The shutdown called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gorkha People's Liberation Front, GJM) began on Monday and met with a good response as most businesses were closed and scores of activists blocked the main highway connecting Darjeeling to the neighbouring areas in the state of West Bengal.

   State Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya appealed to the GJM to call off the strike and hold talks but the appeal was rejected by the GJM leaders.

   Tourists started leaving the Darjeeling hills, a world-renowned tea-producing region and a popular summer destination, after the GJM announced plans for the strike on Monday.

   Gorkhas are ethnic Nepalis who have long demanded a separate state called 'Gorkhaland' be carved out of the eastern state of West Bengal.

   GJM spokesman Benoy Tamang said the organization would continue the shutdown until its demands were met.

   Besides separate statehood, GJM is also pressing for immediate transfer of the region's police top brass, who they alleged were targeting GJM supporters at the behest of the ruling left-wing coalition in the state.

   The GJM organized indefinite shutdowns twice in the Darjeeling hills last year and just ahead of the national elections in April, which hit the key industries of tea and tourism.

   Tripartite talks between the state and federal government officials and the GJM representatives last year failed to break the deadlock.

   More than 1,000 people died in an earlier campaign for Gorkhaland in the 1980s which was settled after Darjeeling district was given a special governing council with more autonomy, but it remained part of West Bengal state. The movement resurfaced with the larger demand for a separate state.