The Communist Party of Revolutionary
Marxist today called for a pan-India movement to achieve a separate
Gorkhaland state even as it accused other political parties of the
hills, including the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, of compromising with the
statehood demand.
Speaking on the second day of the All
India Left Coordination Committee (AILCC) programme at Chowk Bazaar,
CPRM president RB Rai stressed the necessity of taking the statehood
demand to other regions of the country to make inroads.
“The struggle for a Gorkhaland state
should not be for only a handful of people or limited to the Darjeeling
hills. The entire Gorkha community spread across the length and breadth
of the country and abroad should reap the fruits of such a state. The
need of the hour therefore, is to focus our activities in other parts of
the country in order to achieve statehood,” the CPRM president said.
Rai said in the initial phase the party will organise a number of activities in the national capital.
“It must be remembered that Delhi is
where things happen. We must not limit our statehood movement to the
hills here but concentrate on Delhi instead,” he remarked.
Accusing the GJM of compromising with
the statehood demand by going back to the Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration to appease a belligerent state government, the CPRM chief
said, “The Trinamool Congress is anti-Gorkhaland, the Congress has put
on a dual face, while the BJP is under pressure from its Bengal unit.
Despite these facts, the GJM has reverted to the GTA leaving the joint
action committee for statehood in the lurch.”
The Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee
(GJAC) was formed in August comprising nine outfits including the GJM
and CPRM to take forward the statehood movement.
“The GJAC was formed with the
understanding that the GJM would scrap the GTA. But the party broke the
promise perhaps under pressure or to appease the TMC-led state
government,” maintained Rai.
The CPRM had on Saturday held an indoor
meeting of the AILCC to deliberate on the forthcoming Lok Sabha election
keeping the statehood demand as the focal point of discussions. The
party contesting the polls was also mulled over with support from AILCC
constituent members from Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Karbi Anglong,
Maharastra, Kolkata and Siliguri.
The CPRM rally today from the Railway
Station to Chowk Bazaar culminated with a public meeting. The CPRM
president also touched upon the issue of the illegal arrests of
statehood activists saying the state government used terror tactics to
curb the statehood voice.
“We are not in solidarity with the GJM,
but the arrests of its activists have violated human rights and
democratic norms, especially the transgression of clause 29 of the GTA
accord,” said Rai.
He alleged the state government is using the police to snub the statehood demand.
“The state government is indulging in
‘tanaasahi’ as we are not even allowed to put up posters supporting the
statehood cause. Political parties here are not being allowed to carry
out their activities. As for this programme, we were given permission at
the very last moment,” he said.
One of the speakers at the meeting was
Uday Bhatt, general secretary of the Maharashtra-based Lal Nishan Party.
He lauded the CPRM’s efforts and promised to extend all possible
support to the Gorkhaland demand.
“Today’s meeting could be the turning
point in the politics of the hills as the actual demand for statehood
will now be raised. Visitors to the hills only harp on the region’s
beauty and the Kanchenjunga. But I will take the Gorkhaland demand back
and ensure it reverberates in Maharashtra. Our party will extend all
possible support,” said Bhatt.
Other AILCC members also echoed Bhatt and promised full cooperation to the CPRM in taking forward the statehood demand.(EOIC)
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