In yet another turn of political events in the Hills, it has come to light that the leader of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha-2, Anit Thapa, had also tendered his resignation from the party the day after their president Binoy Tamang quit all posts in the GJMM on 15 July.

While one leader of the GJMM-1 led by Bimal Gurung made this revelation today in Darjeeling, Mr Thapa later confirmed the same and said that he had submitted his resignation to the Calcutta High Court, where a case regarding the party between the two factions are sub-judice.

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When contacted, Mr Thapa also maintained that he had already announced that a new party would be floated in early September. The resignation letter was written by Mr Thapa on 16 July, and addressed to the vice-president of the Morcha camp, states, “Being a primary member of the Morcha for the last 13 years, it is now time for me to move on. I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership of the Morcha.”

The letter also states that his aim and purpose remains the same as it has always been from the very beginning, “to serve the people of the region and country, which I had been unable to do within this party.” “To reflect and realise the aspirations of my people and my workers, I believe it is best that I now look ahead at a fresh start,” Mr Thapa has said in the letter.

Interestingly, party president Binoy Tamang had resigned from the party on 15 July, citing reasons like an “ongoing conspiracy” to have him removed from politics. “This is a sub-judice matter and I submitted my resignation in the presence of the party vice president to the High Court. Moreover, I have already announced the formation of a new party in September. To start something new, we have to move away from the old one,” Mr Thapa said when contacted.

The undivided Morcha was founded on 7 October 2007 by Bimal Gurung, which included Mr Tamang as one of the founder members, with Mr Thapa joining the party later. In the height of the 2017 statehood agitation, Mr Tamang and Mr Thapa teamed up to create the second faction of the Morcha, with the former becoming the party president and the latter the general secretary.

Mr Gurung and other leaders had gone into hiding to evade arrest for their role in the agitation. Recently, after Mr Tamang also resigned from the 2nd faction, Mr Thapa was functioning as the acting president of the faction. However, before Mr Thapa gave his statement about the resignation, the Gurung faction claimed Mr Thapa had been fooling the people by staying quiet on his resignation, “just to stay in power using the Morcha party and flag.”

“We have the document which he (Thapa) submitted in the HC. He resigned a day after Binoy Tamang, the former president of the other faction resigned. Therefore, how come Thapa continues to use the GJM party and flag?”
said Bhuwan Khanal, a senior leader of the Gurung faction, here today. “Thapa has resigned from even the ordinary membership of the party.

He talks about new thought and vision, yet he resorts to such antics to fool the people,” Mr Khanal added. Mr Thapa, on the other hand, said that as he had already announced the formation of a new party earlier, he had not fooled the
people.