Hill politicians of all hues have been advised by residents of Nali Chour in Sonada to stop tagging their place with a clash between supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Bimal Gurung and Binay Tamang camps on April 19 as it is bringing a bad name to the village.

Leaders of both the factions had said the clash had taken place at Nali Chour, about 20km from Darjeeling.

Posters condemning the “Nali Chour” incident were plastered across the hills and numerous groups made claims and counter-claims, which all put the spotlight on the sleepy hamlet.

The residents, however, issued a press statement, requesting politicians and their respective parties to refrain from dragging Nali Chour’s name to the violence. The villagers said the clash had indeed taken place at Ramita and not Nali Chour.

Sakuntala Gurung, who spoke on behalf of the Nali Chour residents, said: “Our village is getting a bad name. Politicians are mentioning our village’s name; posters have our village’s name; the same is mentioned in the FIR and this should be immediately corrected.”

Mahendra Pradhan, a leader of the Tamang faction and a former Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Sabha member from Sonada, had alleged that Bimal Gurung had personally assaulted him.

“I was on my way to Nalichor, while Bimal Gurung was returning (to Darjeeling). There was a traffic jam. I was alone and it was then that daju (Bimal Gurung) assaulted me and I suffered injuries to the head,” said Pradhan.

Another resident of the village, Durga Pandit, said the name of the place was not “Nalichor” as was being mentioned by political leaders and their supporter but “Nali Chour”.

Gurung had, however, denied the charge and said while he was on his way from Ringtang tea garden, eight to nine boys, along with Pradhan, were standing and blowing whistles.

The whistle was the Tamang camp’s election symbol.

“I carried on with my journey. Later, I heard that they had attacked one of the vehicles at the end of my cavalcade. One supporter was injured and the charge that I assaulted Mahendra Pradhan is false,” said Gurung.

Even though Pradhan and Gurung, two centres of the incident, had not explicitly said the incident had occurred at Nali Chour, other leaders of their respective camps started issuing statements that mentioned the village as the place of the clash.

“We are peace-loving people and no such incidents had occurred at our village in the past, too. The place is a tourist attraction as we are surrounded by temples, monasteries and churches. We request politicians to remove the name of our village from posters and refrain from mentioning it in their press statements,” said Pandit.

This is probably the first time that such a request has been issued by villagers in the Darjeeling hills.