Congress support for Gorkhaland

Darjeeling : The Darjeeling District (Hill) Congress Committee today made it clear that they would support “regional sentiments” irrespective of the party’s central stand.

This became apparent following a meeting convened today by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and attended by parties opposed to the GNLF including the Congress, BJP, ABGL, CPRM, Trinamul Congress and Gorkha Rastriya Congress.

Following the meeting, Chabbi Rai, the secretary of the Congress’s hill unit signed the resolution which maintains that Gorkhaland and not the Sixth Schedule is the only way to fulfill the aspirations of the hill people.

The stand of the party’s local unit gains significance in the light of the fact that the Sixth Schedule Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament by Congress home minister Shivraj Patil. The GNLF has recently been pressing for the bill to be placed in Lok Sabha when it opens for the winter session on November 15.

Though Darjeeling Congress MP Dawa Narbula was not present at the meeting, he confirmed that a leader from the party had been invited to the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall this evening when the meeting took place.

“It is true that we cannot go against regional sentiments. This is the local stand of the party and moreover even during the Gorkhaland agitation the then Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had categorically mentioned that raising the Gorkhaland demand was not unconstitutional,” the veteran leader said.

Incidentally, the Legal Rights Awareness Forum comprising lawyers from Darjeeling Bar Association have condemned the proposal to bring the hills under the Sixth Schedule status.

Binay Tamang, the press and publicity secretary of the GJM, said: “During the meeting today, G.S. Yonzone, the president of the BJP’s hill committee, also said he had apprised the central leadership of the fact that the local unit would back the Gorkhaland demand.”

The CPM was not represented at the meeting. The ruling party in the state has recently reiterated its support for the Sixth Schedule demand in public meetings here. The Bengal government and the Center had signed a memorandum of settlement with GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh to include the hills in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

On the other hand, the GNLF has started forming units of its youth wing — the Gorkha National Youth Front — in various parts of the hills.

Deepak Gurung, the president of the GNLF’s Darjeeling branch committee, said: “This is part of our move to strengthen our organization.”

While youth committees have been formed in Peshok and Takdah, Gurung said others would come up in Darjeeling and Bijanbari after Diwali.

Source: The Telegraph