After Mayawati proposed to divide UP into Awadh Pradesh, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Paschim Pradesh, the hill parties and civil society groups of Darjeeling have again started raising their voice for Gorkhaland demand.
Significantly, the GJM which recently signed the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) treaty with the state and the Central government has also started taking part in the movement and senior leadership of the party insists that if UP can be divided into four states, why Gorkhland should not be carved out from West Bengal.
“We are closely watching the developments in Uttar Pradesh. We support the cause of the UP government and we will meet our Central committee members shortly to discuss how we can initiate talks with the state government for separate statehood,” said Roshan Giri, GJM general secretary.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, a national-level NGO of the Indian Gorkhas, which is fighting for the cause of Gorkhaland, has welcomed the Mayawati government’s move and urged other states to renew their demand for creation of smaller states. The BGP urges that an initiative be taken at the earliest to address demands for Gorkhaland and Telengana as well.
“We welcome the UP Cabinet decision and now other states should also follow the UP example for creating smaller states,” said Rev Dr Enos Das Pradhan, working president, BGP.
“We hope the UP Cabinet move will initiate the national debate on reorganisation of India. Particularly about Gorkhaland, the Parisangh makes it amply clear that the present agreement on GTA does not reflect the aspirations of the Gorkhas living in Darjeeling, Dooars and other parts of the country. The agreement between the West Bengal government and the GJM should not be held up as an excuse to deny the genuine demand of the Indian Gorkhas for a separate state of Gorkhaland,” said Munshi Tamang, general secretary of BGP.
-expressindia
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