Darjeeling, Feb. 27: Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung has decided to call a meeting on
March 5 with representatives of the 10 hill communities that are seeking
Scheduled Tribe status following state’s decision to recommend to the
Centre about the status.
Sources at Nabanna
had said yesterday that a note would soon be put before the state
cabinet to send a recommendation to the Centre to give ST status to the
Rai, Yakkha, Gurung, Bhujel, Newar, Jogi, Sunwar-Mukhia, Mangar, Khas
and Thami communities in the hills.
However, a survey
by the state has shown that most of the communities don’t fulfil the
economic and social criteria to be accorded the ST tag.
At the Morcha’s
subdivisional committee office in Darjeeling today, Gurung said: “The
Morcha has always demanded that the 10 communities be given ST status. I
have already welcomed the government’s decision to recommend to the
Centre the ST status for the 10 communities. We have invited the
representative of the 10 communities to a meeting in Darjeeling on March
5. Along with them, we will vigorously pursue the demand.”
Sources said that
in the event of the Centre agreeing to grant ST status to the 10
communities, Gurung did not want the state government to get the credit.
“The ST demand is
second in prominence after the cry for statehood in the hills. If the
Centre gives the nod for the ST status by chance, the Trinamul Congress
would be the gainer. The Morcha doesn’t want Trinamul to steal the show
and this explains Gurung’s immediate decision to convene a meeting with
representatives of all 10 hill communities,” said a source.
Senior government
officials said the decision to recommend the ST status for the 10 hill
communities was a political move. The state was aware that most of the
communities did not meet the criteria for getting the ST status, the
official said.
“Even then, the
Morcha does not want Trinamul to hog the limelight, especially when Lok
Sabha elections are approaching,” said the observer.
Gurung today said he would soon start visiting all 45 GTA Sabha constituencies “to understand people’s needs better”.
He reiterated the
Morcha’s stand that the party would not support Mahendra P. Lama, a
former vice-chancellor of Sikkim Central University, who would contest
from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat as an Independent.
The Morcha chief
said he was “hurt” when P. Arjun, a study forum member, announced his
support for Lama without informing him. Arjun has been suspended from
the study forum.
Gurung said the Morcha would hold its public meeting at Sukna on March 9, instead of March 2.
Source: The Telegraph