Lama starts campaigning for Lok Sabha elections

SNS, Darjeeling, 1 December 2013: Academic Mahendra P Lama, campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2014 from Darjeeling, today appealed the mass to ‘think tank.’

Mr Lama and his newly formed outfit Darjeeling Doars United Development Forum (DDUDF) today held its first outdoor meeting in Darjeeling at Chowk Bazaar. He campaigned at Sukhna recently.

The audience had started to fill up the venue as Mr Lama delivered his speech which was focussed on mainly eight points, a separate state formed of Darjeeling and Dooars being the first.

“Only that parliamentarian who knows how to put forward the issue of our identity crisis and raise our statehood demand at a right time, can highlight the issue at Lok Sabha,” said Mr Lama, adding, “If we trace back the past records of our separate state movement, our issue has been raised for only about 6-7 times at Lok Sabha but if we look at the records of Telangana, their issue has been raised 1,000 times.”

On the other hand, Mr Lama said that only about three to four central development schemes are being implemented in Darjeeling. He added: “The Indian government has about 82 Central schemes. The strategy of the DDUDF after having a parliamentarian is to implement at least 42 development schemes for Darjeeling.”

Further, Mr Lama maintained that the objective of the DDUDF is also to work to implement Panchayat Raj in the Darjeeling Hills, include Darjeeling under North Eastern Council and along with it form a strategy on which community of the Hills should be included under Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

“We shall also work to establish an IIT centre, a Central University in Darjeeling and similarly summon the national and international investors here,” he added.

Further, he has outlined few recommendations to solve the plight at the tea plantation of Darjeeling and Dooars with implementation of Minimum Wages Act, 1948 being the first.

"The tea plantation of Darjeeling and Dooars should be listed in the World Heritage list because they are more than centenary old and similarly a tea auction centre should be established at Siliguri", he said.

Mr Lama said: "Darjeeling is the first in the country to have a tea factory. It is the first to have a hydel water project, and a toy train. Schools were established more than a 100 years ago and is rich in bio-diversity ‘but’ Darjeeling is the only region in the whole Himalayas that is not a state. We shall become the only state in the country with four international borders. We shall have roads connecting these countries and eventually start a trade and build good relations with them.”