People's Democracy

GNLF Goons Kill CPI(M) Worker In Darjeeling

ANTI-socials in the pay and protection of the GNLF killed Comrade Surath Tamang on November 27 in the Naya Dhura locale of the Mukhey Some tea plantation, about 10 kilometres from Darjeeling town. Comrade Surath was a member of the CPI(M)’s Chong Tong local committee and a popular leader of the democratic movement.

The Darjeeling unit of the CPI(M) has protested the murder by organising a bandh of Darjeeling Township for several hours.

The dastardly attack took place in the afternoon when Comrade Surath was on his way back from Darjeeling where he had gone to give a lift to one of his comrades on his motorcycle.

As he turned into Naya Dhura, seven armed assailants crowded him out of his motorcycle and then pinning him to the ground slashed at him countless times with kukris and daos until he was left a bleeding wreck. The murder then made good their escape in the fading light of the descending evening.

By the time CPI(M) workers and the local populace rushed out on the scene of the crime, Comrade Surath had breathed his last. His last rights were completed on the afternoon of November 28 in the presence of the leadership and workers of the Darjeeling unit of the CPI(M).

It is widely believed that Comrade Surath was murdered in order to try to stop the relentless progress of the CPI(M) in the Chong Tong locality where the GNLF has rapidly lost popularity over the recent months.

(B P)