Separate Gorkhaland demand gathers momentum - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

An organisation spearheading the campaign for a separate Gorkhaland state here on Monday demanded that the next round of tripartite talks should be held at the political level. The decision was taken at the central committee meeting of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM). GJM is demanding a new state of 'Gorkhaland' to be carved out from West Bengal . Tripartite talks held earlier in Darjeeling resulted inconclusive. "Now we want the talks, specifically on Gorkhaland issues, and it should be done in political levels within 45 days, dates counting from December 21," said Tilakchand Roka, central committee member of the GJM. To press for their demand, the GJM from Sunday began a road blockade in all the national highways passing through their demanded territory. "We began our strike on 27 December, and it will continue the same way until our demand for Gorkhaland is fulfilled," said Amrit Ranjan, secretary of students' wing of the GJM, in Siliguri. Apart from that the relay hunger strike that began on December 26 is underway in different sub-divisions of the Darjeeling hills. Womens cell of the GJM started their hunger strike on Monday. Gorkhas have been demanding a separate state, to be carved out West Bengal , to help them protect their culture and heritage. The demand for Gokhaland gained momentum after New Delhi announced earlier this month that it would carve out the new state of Telangana out of the present state of Andhra Pradesh in south India . The Gorkha population in West Bengal is around one million out of over 80 million.