SILIGURI, May 7: The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland received a much needed shot in the arm with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) renewing its commitments towards achieving this long-standing aspiration of the people of the Darjeeling Hills.
GJM president Bimal Gurung revived the demand for Gorkhaland at a massive public rally held at the Indira Gandhi maiden here today, which was attended by over three lakhs supporters from all over the Darjeeling Hills and the Dooars area.
Yesterday, the Morcha had officially revived the demand for a separate Gorkhaland by sending a memorandum to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
In the memorandum, the GJM said that the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council that came into being 1989, through a tripartite agreement, has become redundant, as it has failed to fulfil the aspirations of people. The people of the hills would not settle for anything less than a separate Gorkhaland state, the memorandum stated.
Addressing the rally, Mr. Gurung said that the demand for Gorkhaland was a “legitimate demand” and it was because of the West Bengal Government that the “andolan” had suffered resulting in the demand taking so long to be fulfilled. “It is because of leaders like Asok Bhattacharya that the Gorkhaland issue had taken a back seat. They do not want a Gorkhaland at any cost and would see to it that the aspirations of the people of the Hills were never fulfilled. Now, all this is over. The people want Gorkhaland and we will achieve this dream of ours at any cost,” Mr. Gurung said. “Gorkhaland will be a reality by 2010,” he declared.
Speaking on the incident of May 2 during which the Morcha women party workers were beaten up by the CPIM party workers here, Mr. Gurung gave the West Bengal Government seven days time nab the culprits or else he would send 10,000 of his supporters “to do the needful.” He also threatened to carry out an indefinite strike across the Darjeeling Hills if the culprits were not arrested in the given time period.
In his address, Dr Harka Bahadur Chettri, the Central Committee member of GJM said that the history supports the theory that Siliguri was never part of the West Bengal and therefore the demand for its inclusion in the proposed state of Gorkhaland was valid and historically accurate.
Atul Roy, the President of Kamtapur People’s Party in his address said that the demand of the Gorkhaland was very valid and the Centre as well as the WB government should work towards fulfilling this aspiration of the Hills people. The Greater CoochBehar Democratic Party leaders also joined the rally. The two outfits are demanding a separate state for Rajbanshis, Kochs and other ethnic minorities and have become strategic partners of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha.
Others to address the gathering were Roshan Giri, general secretary, GJM, Ausotosh Burman, President Greater CoochBehar Democratic Party and the GJM Central Committee members Jyoti Kala Subba, Pradeep Pradhan, Ramesh Alley, Sawar Agarwal, among others.
The turnout at today’s rally spoke volumes of the support base of the GJM. Earlier, the party had expected around 100,000 people would turn up for the rally. A tight security arrangement was in place, with the West Bengal Government deploying four additional platoons of central security forces in the city. In order to ensure peace the GJM leaders were issued a strict code of conduct for those attending the rally. All schools in the city remained closed today. Around 15,000 Morcha supporters had been deputed at volunteers.
The mood in the hills was upbeat with truckloads of hill people descending to the city since yesterday morning. Most of the shops and business establishments in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik were closed today and the streets wore a deserted look with few people walking around.
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KNOW ABOUT ENTHIC PROBLEM OF GORKHALAND VISIT :
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Question OF CITIZENSHIP , MAHANEPAL/GORKHALAND:
ReplyDeleteDarjeeling was not a Nepalese territory. Before 1947, that district was much smaller than what it is today; British used to use that only for their sanitariums and tea gardens. There were not Nepalese much, but only Bhutias and Lepchas and some Tibetans. Nepalese came after Nehru made another blunder to sign Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950. Nepalese came after that in millions, particularly when in 1980s Nehru’s grandson Rajeev Gandhi made another blunder to create Darjeeling autonomous area, giving total control of the hills to the Nepalese. All retired Nepalese soldiers were allowed to settle down in Darjeeling. Now Nepalese do not allow other non-Nepalese to live in Darjeeling District and they are now expanding their new Nepal within India by demanding the whole of North Bengal. It is really a scandal that CPI (M) chief minister does not know administration; he is not taking action against these Nepalese, but allows them to create a total lawlessness situation in the North Bengal.
Prachanda wants to change the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950. Excellent. It has to start with the issue of the people. Nepalese who cannot prove that their ancestors used to live in India before 1950 must get Nepalese passports? That includes every part of India, Sikkim Darjeeling, Kumaun, and North Bihar etc. In that case there will be very few Indian Nepalese in Darjeeling. Most of the Nepalese in West Bengal, Sikkim are foreigners, i.e., those who came after 1950. They are not Indian by any means. Nepalese or gorkhas from Nepal cannot be claimed as Indian because Nepal is a separate country. Example is there. Yes, Pawan Chamling is a Nepalese but not an Indian, his ancestors came from Nepal. Baichung Bhutia is very proud to be a Bhutanese, he has never claimed that he is an Indian. Nepalese coming from Nepal has no claim at all; they are foreigners. So Nepalese/gurkhas cannot demand a separate state within India for the Nepalese/gurkhas communities. Maoism is much more dangerous than anything, as they believe in mindless violence, which has destroyed Nepal. That is the reason all Nepalese/gurkhas are coming to India. India should follow Bhutan and expel all Nepalese/gurkhas from India and cancel this defunct Indo-Nepal treaty of 1950. This is not racism, but a question of citizenship. Nepalese cannot be Indian.
LOOTS OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS:
All the money given to the Darjeeling Hill Council, over the last 20 years, were stolen by the very people who are now demanding Gurkhaland, because they do not want any investigations on their theft. This is the character of the leaders of the Gurkhas. Bimal Guring, the current leader of the Gurkhas was a truck driver, but now he is a Millionaire. Subhas Ghising was a primary school teacher, now he is a Billionaire. They have stolen all development fund meant for the Darjeeling Hill Council over the last 20 years. This is the true face of the Gurkhas. The current demand for Gorkhaland has started after the West Bengal government was about to appoint an auditor to investigate who has stolen the money (more than Rs.5000 Crores) given to the Darjeeling Hill Council. Immediately Subhas Ghessing said, in that case they will start the Gorkhaland movement again. Then his assistant Bimal Gurung started this current trouble, as he was also involved in that massive theft. There should be CBI investigation about this money and must identify the culprits irrespective of the threat of violence from GJJM.
Darjeeling Hill is not a part of Nepal. Nepalese/gurkhas of Nepal has no right to create trouble in a foreign country. There are lots of Pakistanis, Gujarati, and Sikhs in Britain. There is lots of Turkish in Germany. There are lots of Punjabis in Canada. There are millions of Chinese in Australia. Do they dare to demand separate states for them?
Nepal is now controlled by the most violent people, Maoists, They are demanding MAHA NEPAL and they want to destroy India, as that would please their master China. They want to expand Nepal with the help of Bimal Gurung and North Bengal is the first target.