Mahendra P Lama delivers maiden speech under DDUDF banner

Mahendra P Lama speaking at the meeting in Sukna 

EOIC, Siliguri, 9 November 2013: Academician Dr. Mahendra P Lama was today in Sukna to deliver his maiden public speech under the Darjeeling Dooars United Development Foundation banner. 

He said, “I want to go to Parliament for seven reasons and the chief among them is with the demand of a separate state for the people of Darjeeling and the Dooars.” 

Held under the stewardship of army veteran Col (Retd) BK Rai, the public meeting was attended by Gorkha Rashtriya Nirman Morcha chief Dawa Pakhrin, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh president Dr. Enos Das Pradhan and All India Gorkha League general secretary Pratap Khati, among others. 

A huge crowd had gathered to hear the leaders speak and Lama handed out the DDUDF flag to them. 

“I do not want change, I want transformation in people,” said Lama. 

“All communities living in the Darjeeling hills and the Dooars such as Bengalis, Biharis, Marwaris, Nepalis, Bhutias, Lepchas and others can take advantage of a new state. A person belonging to any community can be the chief minister of this state. This will only happen if we unite and come under the DDUDF banner. As everybody wants a separate state for his or her own reasons, a new state will be for the benefit of all communities.” 

Displaying the DDUF banner

He said his decision to contest in the general election as an independent candidate from Darjeeling is to create a path for the creation of a separate state. Once elected to Parliament, he would pursue seven major issues related to the Darjeeling hills and the Dooars, asserted the academician. 

Further, Lama said he wants educational institutions, both national and international, to be established in the region. 

“I would like to invite the maximum number of foreign investors to the region. Darjeeling is surrounded by four international borders. Fair international trade can be practiced here. NGOs and INGOs could be linked up with several ministries of India and foreign governments. This will help educated youths to earn livelihood as well as engage in social work. We don’t want gifts from the government, we want our rights,” he noted. 

Lama cited examples of other hilly states in the country that are exempted from Income Tax and expressed his desire to make Darjeeling a tax free region. 

The BGP president noted that after a long and unproductive agitation, the people of the hills have found the right person to lead them. 

“Dr. Lama has come like light after darkness for the future of the Gorkhas,” asserted Pradhan. He said the BGP had joined the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee under the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s leadership for statehood, but the agitation proved futile. 

He also appealed to the people to participate in the mass gatherings in Delhi in the month of December. 

Meanwhile, GRNM president Dawa Pakhrin used the occasion to announce his party’s decision to support Lama in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, with AIGL general secretary speaking on the same lines. 

Khati said any opposition to Lama would mean going against the demand for separate statehood.