Bodos join Gorkhaland dharna

Photo Courtesy: Bimal Gurung Official FB

HT, 13 Dec 2016, Darjeeling: The Bodos are going to support the Gorkhaland dharna in New Delhi. Bodo leaders took part in the ongoing dharna at the Jantar Mantar in the capital and expressed solidarity with the Gorkhaland demand.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has demanded that both Bodoland and Gorkhaland have to be formed by 2019. The GJM dharna started from Monday and will continue till December 16.

A GJM release from New Delhi stated that Bodo leaders attended the GJM dharna in New Delhi and expressed solidarity with the Gorkhaland demand. Incidentally, the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland have also staged a dharna with the demand for Bodoland in the capital.

“Both Gorkhakland and Bodoland have to be formed under Article3 (A) of the constitution. The demand for Gorkhaland is 100 years old while we have been raising the demand for Gorkhaland for the past 50 years. Why is the government silent on both these demands?” questioned Promod Bodo, president, ABSU.

The ABSU president stated that the BJP poll manifesto in 2014 had assured to give justice to the Gorkhas and Bodos. “What has happened to those assurances?” questioned Promod Bodo.

The student leader gave a call for a united movement for Bodoland and Gorkhaland.

Among other Bodo leaders present at the GJM dharna included VG Brahma, former MP and Gobinda Basumatari, general secretary, NDFB (P.)

The GJM reciprocated by pledging support to the Bodoland movement. “Both the demands are legitimate as both are demanding separate states under the framework of the constitution. We support the demand of Bodoland and we will launch joint movements in the future,” said Roshan Giri, general secretary, GJM.

Reiterating BJP’s assurance to “sympathetically examine the long-standing demands of the Gorkhas” in the election manifestos in 2009 and 2014, Giri said, “It is time for the BJP to prove their sincerity. Bodoland and Gorkhaland have to be formed by 2019,” he added