Unrest hits Darjeeling hills

KOLKATA, India(Reuters) - Hundreds of tourists were forced to leave Darjeeling hills on Tuesday after fresh demands for a separate state within India for the Gorkha people shut down the hills and its renowned tea industry.

Supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gorkha People's Liberation Front) have asked tourists, including dozens of foreigners, to leave Darjeeling town to avoid getting caught in the indefinite strike that began on Tuesday.

The Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalis, have been demanding a separate state called "Gorkhaland" be carved out of the eastern state of West Bengal, to protect their culture and heritage.

At least 1,200 people died in an insurgency in the 1980s, but protests fizzled out after a few years when Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy.

But politician Bimal Gurung, who heads the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), has raised fresh demands.

"We will not settle for anything less than a separate state this time," Gurung told Reuters by telephone.

Bizarrely, it was a television talent show, India's version of "American Idol", that fanned the fire of Gorkhaland last September, after a radio jockey in New Delhi called the ethnic Nepali winner a "chowkidar" or caretaker, a common term of abuse for people from India's northeast.

The radio channel apologised, but Gurung had by then stoked Gorkha pride and almost every house was soon flying his party's flag.

On Tuesday, thousands of Gurung's supporters came out in the streets and chanted, "We want Gorkhaland" slogans, many waving the green, white and yellow party flags, witnesses said.

Dozens of tourists were stranded in Darjeeling as buses and taxis stayed off the roads.

Many of the tourists asked protesters to allow them to leave.

"We are desperately trying to get out, but there is no transport available and I am stuck with my kids and feeling helpless," said Biplab Sarkar, a tourist from eastern India's main city Kolkata.

While the ruling communists in West Bengal have ruled out any prospect of a separate state, they say they are willing to talk to the Gorkhas.

In Darjeeling, every second house is rented out to tourists, and authorities recently started promoting tea tourism by encouraging foreign tourists to come and stay in plush resorts inside its tea gardens.

"The flight from Kolkata to Bagdogra airport near Darjeeling carries at least 25 foreign tourists every day," said Anil Punjabi of the Travel Agents' Federation of India in Kolkata.

"Darjeeling is an evergreen sector and we are staring at a loss of at least 20 percent of our business in the next few days," Punjabi said.