Kamtapur Youth Organisation to organise sit-in at Jantar Mantar.... Mamata must walk the talk: KPP leaders

SNS, Siliguri, 21 January 2014: Kamtapur Youth Organisation (KYO), the youth wing of Kamtapur People's Party (KPP), will stage sit-in at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in February, demanding separate Kamtapur state and Constitutional recognition of Kamtapuri language. KPP has already embarked on an awareness programme in the Kamtapuri-speaking areas, stressing that it is not in league with the militant group raising the same demands ~ Kamtapur Liberation Organisation.

“Hundreds of KYO activists would stage a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in Delhi next month over several demands, including those of the separate Kamtapur state, Constitutional recognition of Kamtapur language and introduction of programmes and news in Kamtapur language from the Fulbari Doordarshan Kendra. We think the time has come when we must make our presence felt in the arena of national politics,” said KPP president, Atul Roy.

Slamming the state government and its administration for arresting innocent people from the Rajbanshi community in the aftermath of the 26 December bomb blast at Paharpur in Jalpaiguri district, he said they are bent on harassing and humiliating the weaker section of his community to instill fear. “This is dangerous as the innocent are being tagged with cases framed on trumped-up charges. The poor and the weak among the community are specially targeted,” he said.

The KPP leader further said they are being clubbed with KLO to have them discredited. “We are opposing the terror mongering by KPP from the front. We organised an anti-terrorism rally in Shiv Mandir recently, condemning the role of police/administration as well as KLO’s terror tactics yesterday," Mr Roy added.

He said they would meet the former Lok Sabha Speaker, P A Sangma in Siliguri this month.

"Mr Sangma would be in Siliguri later this month. We would request him to take initiatives so that we can meet the national political leaders in Delhi to highlight our long-standing demands,” he said.

SNS, Siliguri, 21 January 2014: Taking the chief minister’s assurance on the recognition of Kamtapuri/ Rajbanshi language yesterday with a pinch of salt, Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) leaders said the chief minister must walk the talk instead of milking it to advance the ruling party’s electoral interests.

The party president, Mr Atul Roy said: “We are partially happy with chief minister’s assurance on the language demand issue. It has been a longstanding demand. However, we would have been happier if the CM had mentioned Kamtapuri language instead of Rajbanshi language.”

“The state government recognised Nepali as second official language in the state in 1968 and later, it was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as ‘Nepali/Gorkhali’ language in 1992. We will be thankful to the chief minister if she follows the line regarding our linguistic aspiration,” he added.

Mr Roy, however, joined issue with the chief minister on the matter of the constitution of Rajbanshi Academy.

“We wonder where the Academy now stands. Was it discussed at an all-party meeting? Have things been given the legislative or executive seal by having the matter passed in the Assembly or the state Cabinet? Has the government allotted funds for its functioning? It seems to exist on papers, a signboard bereft of power and dignity,” he added.

KPP general secretary, Mr Nikhil Roy, said the chief minister’s assurance to form a committee to get into the feasibility of recognising Rajbanshi language is politically motivated.

“We are not happy with the chief minister’s view because the language whose recognition we are demanding is not Rajbanshi-specific. It is in the fitness of things if the Kamtapuri language is given precedence over the Rajbanshi language,” he said, adding that they had enlightened the CM on the imperative of the recognition through a deputation served on behalf of Kamtapur Culture and Language Forum immediately after her government assumed charge.