The Lepchas who sat on a dharna in Kolkata and in Kalimpong met chief secretary Samar Ghosh

KOLKATA: Despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee's assurance of forming a Lepcha Development Council (LDC), the Lepchas, who sat on a dharna in Kolkata and in Kalimpong, met chief secretary Samar Ghosh to pursue their demand.

A delegation of the Lepcha Rights Movement, led by convener Bhupinder Lepcha, told the chief secretary that they want an official communication from the state government. They have also demanded that their language be introduced at the primary level.

According to Linguist and scholar Satarupa Dattamajumdar, Lepcha was an official language in the Darjeeling hills and was extensively used in Kalimpong till the end of the 19th century.

"But the language has not been recognized in the curriculum in West Bengal," the scholar says. 
-TOI