KOLKATA: A day before the four-day visit of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Darjeeling Hills for laying the foundation stone of the first-ever university in the hills, tantric activities were done at the door of absconding Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri and a threat letter issued to him in Darjeeling on Monday.
While lemon and sindoor was found at the entrance of the house, red imprints of palms were found all over the walls of the entrance.-"The way you and your party expelled Subhash Ghising (Gorkha National Liberation Front founder) from the hills, the circle has come round and you and your leaders are out of hills now. If you try to enter the hills, your house would be burnt down and you may be killed,-" a letter signed by 'Darjeeling public' was found at the spot.
Issuing a statement after the incident, Roshan Giri demanded that the matter be investigated by the state government or the central government and protection be accorded to his old mother living in the house.-"I do not believe tantric activities but this act had a profound psychological effect on my old mother. I request police to initiate a suo motu case and take it to the court. I request state government or central government to initiate a probe into the matter as I have been threatened to be killed and my house burnt down,-" he said.
Without naming anyone, he added, "this incident shows that they have taken the help of tantric out of desperation after failing to sell our land (proposed Gorkhaland). When they could not defeat me in argument, they are threatening to kill me. Previously, false cases were slapped against me and my name was removed from voter's list.
They made my family homeless and threatened my mother after finding her alone at home. They did not leave any stone unturned to divide the people but finding them solidly in favour of statehood, they are now taking desperate measures of using tantric against me".
On the other hand, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee began her four-day tour of Darjeeling hills on Monday evening. She would stay the night at Siliguri and leave for Darjeeling on Tuesday morning where she would attend a meeting of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. On Wednesday, she would lay the foundation stone for Darjeeling's first ever university at Mungpoo.
She would return to Kolkata on September 6. It is being speculated that it may discussed at the GTA meeting -- attended by Board of Administrators chairman Binay Tamang and vice-chairman Anit Thapa - whether Trinamool Congress candidate would be put up at the Lok Sabha elections in Darjeeling constituency next year. BJP MP S S Ahluwalia is the incumbent MP in the constituency.
However, TMC's assessment says that Ahluwalia's absence from Darjeeling during the 104-day agitation last year has dipped his popularity in the constituency.