Let's strike a chord at India Gate with our guitar

The GJM supremo Bimal  Gurung ‘s recent  public declaration that the movement for Gorkhaland  would be Delhi centric and Gorkhas would make their presence felt in Delhi is commendable and makes real sense. Delhi unit of GJM has welcomed the move and extended whole hearted support to go ahead with the step.  Ranjan Sharma, General Secretary of Delhi GJM says that since the ultimate solution for carving out Gorkhaland lies in New Delhi, as per Article 3 of the Constitution of India, the bill for a separate state has to be tabled in Parliament and it has to arrive through a broad political consensus.  Any bill that needs to be introduced has to be debated threadbare in both the houses of Parliament and ultimately passed with absolute majority. With Loksabha elections round the corner it is the time to hit the iron when it is hot says Sharma. Anything logical and legitimate is possible in a parliamentary democracy specially when the Government is run by coalition of political parties and the aspiration of people is supreme. Ranjan says that at this stage, tactful political lobbying in New Delhi can fetch fruitful results. Now the time has come to think rationally and expand our political clout in the cabinet to convince top brass decision and policy makers of the central government.  One vital reason why union government responded positively to the demand of Telangana is due their strength in political numbers and their political clout in New Delhi.  We have to mobilize the youth in Delhi, there are thousands of  Gorkha students in Jawaharlal University(JNU), Delhi University, Engineering , Medical colleges, private universities and management  institutes . Likewise   there are professionals who have come to earn a living and also a people who are already settled in Delhi.
Ranjan says “We can move the institutions of democracy ie the judiciary by filing Public Interest Litigation in support of Gorkhaland in the Supreme Court citing grounds of identity crisis and the aspiration of Gorkhas all over the country. We can mobilize political lobby in New Delhi and approach MP’s of various political parties to move a private bill in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.   “We can also move the Central Information Commission by filing an RTI, asking for reasons as to why the government is silent on the issue of Gorkhaland”.
The other interesting personal opinion given by Ranjan is why not approach the luminaries of the film industry. We know that Shahrukh Khan begun his acting career in Darjeeling with the movie ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman” and the famous opening song of the movie was shot in Darjeeling, so somewhere inside his heart , he might have a soft corner for us and our place. Numerous big time hit bollywood movies have been shot in Dareeling and its vicinity, so why not approach the box office celebrities seeking their indulgence on our issue, whats wrong in trying??  says Ranjan  There has been enough of strikes and protests and lives of common man, poor people including tourism and other sectors have been  effected severely  and also crippled hill  economy. Now to make up for the collateral damage so that common life does not get effected, it is appropriate and advisable to raise voice in Delhi by setting a platform so that Gorkhas scattered all over the country, be it Dehradun , Himachal, Jammu, Chandigah , north eastern states, Mumbai , Banglore,  Chennai etc to stand under a single umbrella and  fight peacefully and unitedly. We can organize tourist festivals and publish advertisements on print as well as electronic media nationwide promoting our globally acclaimed Darjeeling heritage.
The other biggest advantage of Delhi oriented movement is the presence of media. It is a known fact that the media remote controlled from Kolkata is biased to some extent towards our cause. There has been instances of  selective broadcast,  as the strings are attached to writers building with a limited and censored message   going out  to the rest of the world regarding our issue. Movement in Delhi will break such barriers, if we mobilize the media tactfully our cause will get propagated un -censored, un -edited to the rest of the world and this may create an outstanding impact. So now it is high time that we pull up our socks, the movement has to run parallel in Darjeeling, Delhi as well as other major cities. Now is the time to strike a chord in India Gate with our guitar.