Tribal Five refused audience - Parishad leaders want showcause reply first by telegraphindia.com
Siliguri, Nov. 3: The state committee of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today turned away five regional leaders who had been showcaused, refusing to accept any “informal” explanation on why they had decided to join the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. The Parishad state president Birsa Tirkey said no meeting could take place until the proceedings against the five leaders were completed after they replied to the showcause notices in writing. They could even be expelled, Tirkey said, as their announcement on Sunday that they wanted the Dooars and the Terai to be part of the new set-up for the hills has not gone down well with a section of Adivasis in the region. Tirkey said based on the replies the executive committee of the Parishad, a tribal outfit with considerable influence in north Bengal, would decide on the action to be taken against the five. “Last year, we expelled the then regional secretary of the Dooars-Terai unit, Rajesh Lakra, on similar grounds,” ...