Gorkhaland plea to governor

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT,  Darjeeling: Hill-based political parties and welfare organisations on Wednesday called on Bengal governor Keshari Nath Triparthi at Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling to raise the demand for Gorkhaland and allege lack of democracy and partisan attitude of the administration.

The Gorkha Rashtriya Congress, which supports the merger of the Darjeeling hills with Sikkim, also requested the governor to forward their demand to the Centre to set up a fact-finding commission to "clarify the political and constitutional status of Darjeeling".

"The historical fact remains that Darjeeling was never part of Bengal and was gifted to the British by Sikkim. This has also been acknowledged by the Bengal government, which had brought out a white paper in the late 1980s," sad Subodh Pakhrin, the chief coordinator of the GRC.

"We have requested the governor to forward our demand to constitute a fact-finding commission to clarify the political and constitutional status of Darjeeling." The Federation of Indian Gorkha Associations, which comprises of 17 Gorkha welfare associations and six political parties including the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Bimal camp), Indian Democratic Republican Front, Gorkha United Liberation Front, United Gorkha Revolutionary Front and the Gorkha Democratic Front also called on the governor.

"The chief minister of Bengal has already said that the issue of Gorkhaland is outside her purview. We met the governor as he is the constitutional head of the state and representative of the Centre and requested him to take forward the issue and initiate the process," said Anjani Sharma, national convener of FIGA.

The ABGL separately called on Tripathi.

"We raised the issue of lack of democracy and partisan attitude of the administration. False cases are being slapped against those who speak on Gorkhaland and only those parties that are close to Trinamul are allowed to hold rallies and public meetings," alleged Pratap Khati, ABGL leader.

Suraj Sharma, a spokesperson for the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Binay Tamang camp), said: "Everyone is aware of the demand of Gorkhaland and now it is time for the BJP government at the Centre to place a bill in Parliament.".