Tamang vows to ensure BJP defeat

Vivek Chhetri, TT,  Jul 12, 2018, Bijanbari: Binay Tamang said on Wednesday that he would go all out to ensure that the BJP was defeated in Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat as well as in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri constituencies and all other places where Gorkhas live.

"The biggest betrayer of our community is no other party but the BJP," the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader told a public meeting at Bijanbari, about 30km from Darjeeling.

"They have simply done nothing for our community and are the biggest betrayers. Forget about Darjeeling where we will ensure that they will have no presence. I will also work tirelessly in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts and other regions where our people reside to ensure their defeat (in the upcoming 2019 parliamentary elections," said Tamang.

Tamang was addressing his third public meeting in a span of four days.

The GTA head said he was the one who carried 53kg of documents which were to be submitted to tribal affairs department in Delhi.

"We have submitted all the documents, the honourable chief minister of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, also recommended ST status to 11 communities, but the Centre has done nothing for us," said Tamang.

D.K. Pradhan, a Morcha leader who had been arrested in connection with the recent statehood agitation, also lambasted the BJP.

"The BJP has fooled us. We are now seriously working on the issue of granting land rights. The decision of Binay Tamang and Anit Thapa to work closely with the state government is right," he said.

The Morcha leader accused Gurung of trying to unnecessarily rake up the issue of deletion of his name from the voters list.

"The names of 401 people have been deleted (from the Darjeeling hills), including that of my daughter who is married outside the region. Names of absconders are also deleted as per the law of the land. K.B. Wattar's (CPM leader) name was deleted while he was absconding from 1992 and 1994 but once he surrendered, his name was listed," said Tamang.

The Morcha leader added that the name of a two-time RJD MLA, Rajendra Prasad Yadav, had also been deleted in 2005 for being an absconder.

Tamang said a nursing college and law college were coming up in Darjeeling. "We are also building 1172 houses for the weaker sections and the funds will be directly transferred to the beneficiaries," said Tamang.