Monkey business: Darjeeling residents rattled by fear of simians
Darjeeling’s scenic charm is being shadowed by an escalating monkey menace that has left both locals and tourists on edge.
State tourism minister Gautam Deb on Friday claimed that the stand taken by Darjeeling MP and Union minister of state for electronics and information technology, SS Ahluwalia, to support fugitive Morcha leader Bimal Gurung was ‘unconstitutional.’
During a two-day trip of Siliguri, Mr Ahluwalia had on Wednesday said that Mr Gurung was in Darjeeling and the Dooars and that he was in touch with him as he was his ally.
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“Being a public representative and a senior politician, he is backing and supporting a person who is a fugitive, and an accused in the eye of the law, and against whom charges of anti-national activities have been filed, someone whose name has been deleted from the voters’ list and properties have been attached. We strongly condemn the way he has been making provocative statements. Mr Ahluwalia should have been aware of his responsibilities. Police are performing their duty, but being a central minister, he should have shared the information (about Mr Gurung) at the government level. His role is unconstitutional,” Mr Deb said on Friday.
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According to him, if Mr Gurung was innocent, why is he not knocking the doors of the judiciary?
Mr Gurung is on the run ever since he was booked under the antiterror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for involvement in violence during the agitation for statehood that rocked Darjeeling in June last year.
“People will not tolerate this and resist if he tries to play with fire. People showing him black flags yesterday was a spontaneous outburst of the people,” he added. Morcha supporters had waved black flags and shouted “SS Ahluwalia go back” when Mr Ahluwalia’s cavalcade headed for the Bagdogra airport on Thursday.
Mr Deb also slammed the minister for staying away from the Hills for more than a year. Mr Ahluwalia arrived in Siliguri on 22 August, after a gap of almost six months.
“Being a senior politician, he did not show any respect to the electorates and ignored them. It is very unfortunate that after taking oath under the constitution, he did not perform his constitutional duties,” minister Deb said.
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