Harka seeks MPs' support

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Jan 04, 2018, Kalimpong: A delegation of the Jana Andolan Party led by its president Harka Bahadur Chhetri met MPs of different parties in New Delhi on Thursday and sought their support in initiating a discussion in Parliament on the demand for Gorkhaland as well as the prevailing situation in the hills.

JAP activists have been on a week-long dharna outside Jantar Mantar in Delhi in support of their demand. The dharna has been organised coinciding with the ongoing winter session of Parliament that concludes on Friday.

Chhetri told The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi that the JAP team had met Lok Sabha members P. D. Rai, K. Kavitha Rao and Mohammad Salim of the Sikkim Democratic Party, Telengana Rashtra Samiti and the CPM, respectively, and briefed them on the prevailing situation in the hills and urged them to raise the issue in Parliament.

"All the MPs we met said since this session of Parliament ends tomorrow (Friday), they may not be able to raise the issue, but they would definitely take up the matter in the budget session," he said.

The budget session is likely to start later this month or early next month.

Chhetri said it was imperative to make the nation aware of the current situation in the hills where the state administration, he alleged, had been committing atrocities on the ordinary people in order to crush the movement for Gorkhaland.

"All democratic and constitutional rights of the people are being trampled upon by the state government. People are being threatened and arrested for voicing their constitutional demand. The nation must be made aware of all these," he said.

The JAP president said his party would continue with its Delhi-centric programme during the budget session of Parliament.

"There is no point in continuing our dharna from tomorrow (Friday) since this session of Parliament will end. We will, however, come to Delhi again with a larger contingent before the budget session and continue our agitation till our voices are heard," he said.

Apart from the discussion in Parliament, the JAP also wants the central government to convene tripartite talks to discuss the Gorkhaland issue to resolve the matter once and for all.

After attending the first two rounds of bipartite meetings convened by the state government to discuss the hills issue, the party has abstained from subsequent rounds of meeting, asserting that only the tripartite process would lead to a meaningful solution to the problem.