Want To Go Alone

Trouble is brewing in North Bengal again. The simmering movement for a separate state of Coochbehar, or Kamtapur, comprising most of North Bengal and parts of Assam that formed the erstwhile princely state of Cooch Behar, erupted in a frenzy of violence earlier this week when a hunger strike in front of the DM’s office in Coochbehar turned violent. At the end of it, two police constables and an IPS officer lay dead, while the DM, SP and some other officers were injured. Two agitators were also killed in the police firing. The Rajbongshis, original inhabitants of Cooch Behar, raised the demand for a separate state a few years ago on the grounds that Bengali settlers swamping them were obliterating their cultural identity. The movement spawned the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, an insurgent outfit, which was crushed one-and-a-half years ago. Now the restive Rajbongshis have started renewing the demand.