Assam Gorkhas threaten to protest with 'khukri'

Gorkhas under the banner of the Assam Gorkha Sammelan (AGS) and the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha (BGP) on Saturday iterated their opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and threatened to come out with their khukris (traditional knives) unless Assam was exempted from the purview of the Act.

At a news conference here, Gorkha leaders said they had been actively involved in the anti-Act protests and wanted the people of Assam to know that the community would continue to support the movement.

Explaining the demand for exemption of the Act in entire Assam, general secretary of the AGS, Bhaskar Dahal, said: “The Act will invite threat to the indigenous Gorkhas of Assam who are constituents of the greater Assamese community. This Act, if not exempted now, will not only change the demography of Assam, but will also adversely affect official Assamese language, communities’ cultural assimilation, art and literature, finally leading to challenging the constitutional protection of new settlers as committed in the Assam Accord.”

Dahal added that the Gorkha community would be forced to come out with their khukris like they did on earlier occasions when the greater Assamese community, the state or the country were threatened.

Nityananda Upadhyay, president of the BGP, Assam state committee, said: “The Assam Accord is a national commitment by the government of India to the people of Assam. Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which guarantees constitutional protection of indigenous communities, should be implemented even before the Act is notified nationwide, exempting Assam and the Northeast.”

Elaborating on the Gorkhas’ stand on Clause 6, general secretary of the Assam state committee of the BGP Prakash Dahal said: “Gorkhas, too, need constitutional protection as one of the constituent indigenous communities of Assam under Clause 6 of the historic Assam Accord. During the Assam Movement several Gorkha youths laid down their lives. We have submitted a joint representation from all Gorkha citizens and students’ organisations, besides eminent personalities before the empowered committee. We will request them to honour our demands for the rights as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.”

BGP national secretary in charge of youth affairs Nanda Kirati Dewan and Assam Gorkha Mahila Parisangha president Laxmi Subedi were also present at the news conference besides other leaders and representatives of the Gorkha community in Assam.

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