Anit Thapa files FIR against Gurung

DARJEELING,: Bharatiya Gorkha PrajatantrikMorcha (BGPM) president Anit Thapa on Friday lodged an FIR against Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung at Darjeeling Sadar Police Station, accusing him of making inflammatory and provocative remarks intended to incite public aggression and disturb peace.

The complaint pertains to a recent statement made by Gurung while addressing party supporters at the GJM office in Singamari, where he allegedly urged people to spit on Thapa and former Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) chairman Binoy Tamang whenever they encountered them.

The video of the speech went viral on social media, triggering sharp reactions from BGPM leaders and counter statements from rival camps.

In his complaint, Thapa, who is also the chief executive of GTA, sought immediate legal action against Gurung for making “highly inflammatory, provocative, defamatory and inciting statements” against him with the “deliberate intention of provoking public disorder, mob aggression, intimidation, harassment and violence”.

“The statement was not made casually, rhetorically or in the heat of political discourse, but was a deliberate and calculated public exhortation intended to provoke members of the public into engaging in hostile physical acts and aggressive conduct against me in public places,” the complaint stated.

Thapa alleged that Gurung’s remarks amounted to a dangerous form of incitement capable of provoking supporters to take the law into their own hands.

“A public call encouraging people to physically accost and humiliate a named individual in public is capable of rapidly escalating into riots, brawls, manhandling, assaults and serious disturbances affecting public tranquillity and safety, particularly in the politically sensitive atmosphere prevailing in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts,” he said.

The BGPM leader further alleged that the widespread circulation of the video on social media platforms had encouraged unlawful conduct among members of the public.

Thapa urged police to register an FIR against Gurung and all others involved in the publication and dissemination of the “offending material” and sought urgent preventive measures to stop further circulation of the content.

The GJM, formed in 2007 under Gurung’s leadership, had both Tamang and Thapa among its members. The party split following the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation when Gurung and his supporters went underground, while Tamang and Thapa took charge of the organisation.

In 2021, Tamang quit the faction he headed, followed shortly by Thapa, who floated the BGPM later that year. Gurung, after returning to the hills, blamed both Tamang and Thapa for derailing the 2017 agitation.