GNLF wants Sixth Schedule for Hills...Party says minority status essential for upliftment, growth

SNS, Kurseong, 13 April: The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) today organised a huge public meeting at the Monteviot ground here in support of the demand for Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling Hills.

Supporters in truckloads flocked to the venue, shouting slogans and waving the familiar green flags, all reminiscent of the GNLF heydays in the 1980s, when its public meeting venues used to overflow.

Addressing the meeting, GNLF leaders emphasised on the implementation of the Sixth Schedule in Darjeeling. They claimed that such a tribal status for the area will only solve problems of the Gorkha community and that it will be a stepping stone to the formation of a separate state.

Speakers also criticised the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) and its leadership. They said the GJMM leadership betrayed the Hill people in the name of Gorkhaland, as they (GJMM) are “not sincere regarding the statehood demand.”

The speakers also appealed to the gathering to vote for the Padmashree and Arjuna awards recipient and Trinamul candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, Bhaichung Bhutia, “to restore the constitutional Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) and to have the Sixth Schedule bill passed in both the Houses of parliament.

“It is only through the Sixth Schedule status that the land and identity of the Gorkha community can be secured,” the main speaker at the meeting, GNLF women’s wing leader, Tshering Dahal, said.