Bimal Gurung rakes up Gorkhaland demand on 23rd Bhasa Diwas

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung on Thursday said he trusted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was hopeful that the popular demand for a separate Gorkhaland state would be achieved soon under the BJP’s rule. Speaking on the occasion of the 23rd Bhasa Diwas in Darjeeling organised by the Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha (GJYM), the party’s youth front, Gurung said, “The BJP included our statehood demand in its election manifesto both in 2009 and 2014. The Prime Minister has even said that the dreams of the Gorkhas are his dreams. I am 110 per cent sure that he (Modi) will keep the promise he made prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.” In the same breath, Gurung also tried to clarify the hasty statement he had made saying “a separate state would be achieved by 2010 or I would kill myself”, which has become the Opposition’s ace card to throw at the GJM. “I was made to say that because of reasons that were favourable for us. In 2009, Jaswant Singh of the BJP became the Darjeeling MP and hopes were high that the saffron party would come to power in Delhi, but unfortunately this did not materialise. The BJP had also mentioned the Gorkhaland demand in the party’s election manifesto,” the GJM

Bimal Gurung Speaking on the occasion of the 23rd Bhasa Diwas in Darjeeling organised by he
Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha (GJYM)

Gurung asserted he has not lost hope and that a separate state would be achieved soon. “We have helped give the BJP and MP from Darjeeling once again and our demand has figured in their manifesto. We will soon celebrate the Bhasa Diwas in a Gorkhaland state,” he said. On August 20, 1992, the Nepali language was officially recognized under the 8th Schedule of the Constitution after a prolonged struggle. The GJM chief also reiterated that good relations should be maintained with the state government to usher in development of the hills. “We made a mistake by asking Bengal for a separate state as it is not capable of giving us anything. However, we need to keep developing the hills and this is why we should keep good relations with the state government,” he said. Gurung, who is the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, also had a word of advice for the youths of the hills and asked them to prepare themselves for the future. “The GTA is only a test for us to see how well we can administer our region. We have learned a lot by now and the youths must be ready now because it will not be long before we achieve our demand. Should we hire IAS and IPS officers from outside to run our state?” he said to thunderous applause from the crowd. During the course of the day, Gurung handed out Rs68 lakh as compensation to the families of the June landslide victims and an additional sum of Rs50,000 each to two students for their higher studies. After the June landslide that

claimed 34 lives in different places of the hills, the GTA had promised to provide Rs2 lakh each to the victims’ kin, an amount in addition to the compensation promised by the state and central governments.

Source EOI

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