KPP agitate demanding separate state

Raiganj: Demanding a separate Kamtapur state in North Bengal and inclusion of the Kamtapuri language in the state education syllabus, members of the North Dinajpur district unit of the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP) on Monday afternoon organised an agitation at the premises of Raiganj Railway Station.

After holding a demonstration, the activists brought out a rally through the main thoroughfares of Raiganj town. The rally later reached the office of the District Magistrate, where KPP leaders submitted a memorandum outlining a five-point charter of demands to the district administration.

Amit Roy, president of the central committee of the Kamtapur Progressive Party, said that the memorandum reiterated their long-standing demand for the formation of a separate Kamtapuri state comprising parts of North Bengal. He also welcomed the state government’s initiative to set up two primary schools offering education in the Kamtapuri language in North Dinajpur district.

Roy said they demanded more primary and upper primary schools with Kamtapuri as the medium in Kamtapuri-majority areas, inclusion of Cooch Behar and Kamtapuri history in the syllabus, and recruitment of Rajbanshi youths in the Naryani Battalion, warning of intensified protests if the government fails to act promptly.