Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) Executive Meet concludes with several future agendas

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) concluded its National Executive meeting on March 23rd, 2013 in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, where it decided to undertake national programmes like activating an RTI cell, pursuing the release of a postage stamp to honour Shaheed Durga Malla on his birth centenary this year and to pursue the establishment of a television channel for Gorkhas by Doordarshan.

The executive, the first after a new National Council was constituted in December last year in Siliguri, was attended by the Parisangh’s Executive Council members from various states of India. On the initiative of BGP National President, Dr. Enos Das Pradhan, it was decided to constitute an RTI Cell to be headed by prominent RTI activist, NP Dikshit of Kalimpong. This year being the centenary of martyr, Shaheed Durga Malla’s birth, the Parisangh has some programme lined up. The Union Communication Ministry will be approached for the release of a commemorative postal stamp in the martyr’s honour. The State Governments of Uttarkhand, where Durga Malla was born, and Delhi, where he was hanged by the British, have already been petitioned for support. The Parisangh will also put forward a proposal to the education ministries of states for the inclusion of Sahitya Akademi winning “Bir Jatika Amar`s Kahani” by M.P. Rai in the syllabus of schools where Nepali is taught. A central programme will be organized in Dehradun to celebrate the occasion, where the Uttarkhand unit of BGP has already got the assurance of the state government on an official function to mark Durga Malla’s birth centenary.Another important programme will be the observance of Bhasha Diwas on August 20th, 2013. The Parisangh intends to institute an award for Nepali writing in the memory of late Prem Kumar Allay, the founder general secretary and later president of the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Bhasha Samiti. Similarly, the annual Gorkha Gaurav Diwas, in which the BGP honours Gorkha achievers, will be organized in New Delhi in November 2013 and stalwarts from various states will be honoured.The BGP has decided to pursue the launch of a Gorkha Channel by Doordarshan as a priority. This effort has been ongoing for some years now and despite the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting sitting on the issue, the committee is optimistic that this project will bear fruit soon.In terms of the organizational set-up, the BGP elected former BGP secretary general Sukhman Moktan as the senior Vice-President, the post for which had been lying vacant. The BGP Media Cell, to be based in Siliguri, was also constituted and will comprise Pushpadhar Sharma Joel Rai, Prabin Khaling and Abhay Khaling.A team has been created under the leadership of Zonal President, Arun Upadhyaya to tour the seven states of the North-east to identity specific problems faced by Gorkhas there. An action plan to alleviate these problems will be drawn up based on their findings. The other members of the team are BGP Working President CP Giri, Secretary General Pravakar Dewan, Communications Secretary Pushpadhar Sarmah, Operations Secretary Munish Tamang and Organization Secretary Prabin Khaling. Khaling, Giri and Tamang will also constitute a team that will explore the expansion of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh in states in South, Central and Western India.Realizing the need of a Gorkha Bhawan in New Delhi, the Parisangh intends to initiate steps to approach the government on the construction of a building in the capital that will offer hostelry amenities, cultural space and conference facilities for Gorkhas. The Parisangh has requested former Lok Sabha members Dil Kumari Bhandari and Mani Kumar Subba to jointly head the project committee.    Earlier, at a seminar organized as part of the National Executive, Dr. Mahendra P Lama spoke about the Gorkha identity problem and pointed out the shortcomings of the past so that they will not be repeated in the future as the movement for a separate state to concretize the political identity of the Gorkhas gains momentum. During the executive meet, papers on the creation of a Gorkha identity were also presented by research scholar Binayak Sundas of Jawaharlal Nehru University and academician Bidhan Golay of Sikkim Central University.

Mukesh Sharma