Kalimpong is a part of Bhutan - Bimal Gurung

"We would welcome Mr. Gurung to a personal public televised debate on the question " - JAP

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today hosted a counter meeting in Kalimpong after the announcement of the new political party Jan Andolan Party (JAP)  by Kalimpong MLA Dr Harka Bahadur Chettri on 27 the Jan. The political observers held this GJM meeting as counter action to JAP foundation meeting and to show the GJM strength in Kalimpong.

In the meeting GJM chief Bimal gurung made the statement that "Kalimpong is a part of Bhutan and that it is not yet fully integrated into Indian territory". JAP reacting to this statement has invited Gurung to take part in a televised public debate.

Addressing GJM public meeting at the Mela Ground in Kalimpong Gurung suggested that Kalimpong could not get the status of a district till the lease was cancelled and India incorporated the area.

Bimal Gurung in GJM public meeting at the Mela Ground in Kalimpong 

"Let the Central government understand this. I don't have to make the state government understand. First the central government must understand; this is a no man's land, lease-hold land, you first show by incorporating this area inside your own Bharat ...Let Bengal's Miss Mamata Banerjee not boast that this is your place. You can never lay claim to it. For this, we will talk to the Indian government, otherwise at the international level," he said.

JAP in their website wrote...

Mr Bimal Gurung’s claim today that Kalimpong is a part of Bhutan and that it is not yet fully integrated into Indian territory is simply put, an anti-national statement and the Government of India should take a serious view of it. His reckless and irresponsible statement severely undermines the sovereignty and integrity of the country. We can only guess on whose behalf such claims are being made. It sets back our demand for a separate state by a hundred years because the Governments of India and West Bengal will now be skeptical about our people's loyalty to the nation.

The Jana Andolan Party categorically states that Kalimpong is sovereign Indian territory over which Bhutan has no claims whatsoever. A letter issued far back by the Government on this matter emphatically states that the territories of Assam Doors, Bengal Doors and Kalimpong are an integral part of the Union of India. By Article II of  the Treaty of Sinchula this territory was ceded by Bhutan. That should have ended the matter. However, this bogey previously raised by  Mr. Subash Ghising is now being raised by Mr Gurung with a view to destabilising national security in a sensitive area.

It is strange that these anti-national doubts did not enter Mr. Gurung’s mind when he was garnering votes from the people of Kalimpong for the Member of Parliament Mr. S.S. Ahluwalia to whom the seat was outsourced. If such be Mr. Gurung’s position on this, then he is also suggesting that the Hon’ble Member is elected on votes cast on foreign soil.

For this precise reason the JANA ANDOLAN PARTY had already stated in our Mission Statement 2025 released yesterday that “The comprador political culture of our region has thus fostered and encouraged a hostile and suspicious perception of our people and jeopardised its aspirations toward attaining full self-governance.”

We would welcome Mr. Gurung to a personal public televised debate on the question, if such a question exists at all.

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