Oram and BJP still assure ST tag for Gorkha communities

NISHA CHETTRI, SNS, 4 JANUARY 2019: As the Hills lament the fact that the promised Bill on granting tribal status to 11 Gorkha communities was not placed in the Parliament's winter session, the Kalimpong Krishak Kalyan Sangathan (KKKS) has said that it met union minister for tribal affairs, Jual Oram, in New Delhi on 2 January and got an assurance that the Bill would be tabled in the House "towards the end of the session."

The hill unit of the BJP meanwhile, said that the central government is still looking into the "technical procedures.' and seeing if all the

communities fulfill all the criteria for qualifying as tribals.

The winter session of parliament that began on 11 December is likely to end on 8 January.

The inability of the BJP government at the Centre to table the Bill during the start of the winter session triggered a backlash in the Hills, with major political parties and the common people taking the BJP and the BJP MP from Darjeeling, SS Ahluwalia, to task.

The general secretary of the KKKS, Bishnu Chettri, said that everybody is concerned about the matter, while people have been airing their views on social media. however, nobody wants to go to Delhi and talk about it." he said here today.

According to him, a delegation of 12 KKKS and Khas Jan Jaati members met Mr Oram, who, according to Mr Chettri, assured them that the bill will "definitely be introduced as work related to the matter was now complete.'"

"The tribal status is not a new demand. The status was seized from us, and that is a constitutional error. We also had a word with the national vice-president of the BJP, Amit Shah. Time is running out, so is our patience. It they fail to introduce the Bill, we have an option to knock the Supreme Court's doors within this month. We know that we will win and we will get the tribal status," Mr Chettri said.

It may be mentioned here that fugitive Morcha leader Bimal Gurung and other leaders of his camp have been repeatedly claiming that the Bill would be placed in the parliament this session.

Chief of the Jan Andolan Party Dr Harka Bahadur Chettri said that the Centre may have assured KMr Gurung on the demand "Like any other politician does,"

"The BJP knows that Bimal Gurung is the only entry which can be used if they were to step into the Hills. The MP needs Gurung and his well-wishers' vote. If Gurung happens to slip off the BJP's hands, they do not have an entry-pass in the Hills, and the BJP is working to strengthen the entry pass. BJP is someone who will not meet the statehood demand, and neither will they raise the demand in Parliament. The issue of tribal status is just to keep the hopes of the people alive so that they can win votes." Dr Chettri said.

Kishore Pradhan, the President of the Kalimpong unit  of the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) said that the tribal status tor the Hill communities had never been their area of concern, while it was the security for Indian Gorkhas that mattered. 'The CPRM has always demanded for a separate state of Gorkhaland and that is still our stand," he said,

"Bimal Gurung was compelled to accept this (tribal) issue, while the BJP-led government was in a situation to offer the same. This is an understanding of the two parties-the Bimal Gurung faction of the Morcha and the BJP-Mr Pradhan added.

Manoj Dewan, the President of the BJP's Darjeeling unit, said the BJP is always concerned about the people of the Hills.

'Yesterday, some tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh and other places were included in the ST list by the Cabinet. Similarly, the demand of the 11 Gorkha communities is under process. There are technical procedures which are been looked into by the Cabinet because the demand is not of an individual, it is to do with 11 communities. Therefore, it has to be seen whether all the communities meet the criteria. We expect the demand to be met in the future, as the BJP is very much concerned about the people of the Hills" Mr Dewan said.