No faith on saffron party, time to pledge for bringing in new govt at Centre, declares Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
Darjeeling: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) declared on Wednesday that the Gorkhas have lost faith in BJP and that it is time to take a pledge to bring in a new government at the Centre, to look into long pending demands of the Gorkhas. The statement comes in the wake of the Bill to incorporate 11 Gorkha sub-communities in the Scheduled Tribe list, in the winter session of Parliament.
"The winter session of the Lok Sabha got over on Tuesday and the Rajya Sabha ended on Wednesday. This session of the Parliament was the biggest disappointment for the Gorkhas living across India. The Union cabinet unanimously passed ST status for communities in Arunachal Pradesh last week and on Tuesday, the same for another 6 communities from Assam was passed. While the cabinet passed ST status for other communities, a new committee to examine the granting of ST status for the Gorkhas was formed. Just for some consolation, a team was sent to Sikkim and Darjeeling. In the winter session, BJP insulted the Gorkhas and crushed the aspirations of Gorkhas living across India," retorted Binoy Tamang, president of GJM.
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) on Monday had cleared a proposal to grant the status of Scheduled Tribes (ST) to six communities in Assam and the following day, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh declared that the Bill has been passed by the Union cabinet.
"This shows that if BJP wanted, they could have brought the Bill for the Gorkha sub-communities, as the state government has already given assent to this proposal. Let alone the Bill for granting of ST status for the Gorkhas, the words Darjeeling district and Kalimpong District were not even echoed by Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia. Forget the demand of Gorkhaland and ST status for the Gorkhas" added Tamang.
GJM demanded that the committee for recommendation and granting of ST status that has finished their Sikkim field trip and is in Darjeeling, has to submit their report within 2 weeks, so that the Bill for granting of ST status to the 11 Gorkha communities is placed in the upcoming budget session from January 31 till February 13, 2019.
"We fail to understand the need for this new committee and why another field trip was made to Sikkim and Darjeeling. Vishu Maini, the former chairman of the committee, had already visited Sikkim and Darjeeling in 2016 and had said the committee will give its report by December 2016. The report was to be submitted in 2016 but has been delayed by more than 2 years" stated Tamang. The Registrar General of India (RGI) has rejected the proposal for the inclusion of the 11 Gorkha sub-communities twice, even after recommendations from the state government.
