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"Even if it (Gorkhaland) is granted today, it will be too late for the hill people to enjoy the fruits," Ghising told a public meeting at Chowrasta in Darjeeling.
The DGHC was henceforth 'dead', Ghising, who escaped an assassination bid in February, said adding this was the last term of the Council and that there would be no election in future.
The next election of the DGHC is due in November 2002.
Ghising, who became president of the GNLF on May 5, 1980, had been demanding Gorkhaland since April 22, 1977. "Instead, a so-called autonomous body, the DGHC, was given, which is an eyewash," he said.
"I am disgusted," Ghising told the 'Martyrs Day' meeting organised in memory of 21 persons killed in police firing at Kalimpong on this day in 1986 while demanding Gorkhaland.
He directed the three elected GNLF legislators not to go to Calcutta quite as often as it was a 'meaningless exercise'.
The British, he said, had treated Darjeeling as a colony and 'most unfortunately both the Centre and the state government are meting out the same treatment'.
He urged the hill people to protect their cultural heritage and 'get ready for the future'.
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