Bimal group offers NRC assurance to Gorkhas

TT, 16 Sep 2019, Siliguri: Leaders of the Bimal Gurung lobby of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Sunday sought to reassure the Gorkhas in Assam that none of them would be left out of the National Register of Citizens.

Roshan Giri, general secretary of the Bimal faction, released a video on Sunday where he spoke at length on NRC while being critical of Trinamul and the Binay Tamang faction of the Morcha that have criticised the exercise.

"We are aware that the names of sixty to seventy thousand Gorkhas are not there in the final NRC in Assam. But they are the original inhabitants of India and have options to get their names enrolled. We want to make it clear that not a single Gorkha will be left out of NRC. The exercise has been taken up on directions of the Supreme Court and if required, we will appeal to the Supreme Court on the issue," Giri says in the video.

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh has put the number of Gorkhas left out of the NRC at around a lakh.

Giri's remarks come at a time Tamang, who heads the other lobby of Morcha, is visiting Assam with a delegation of his party. Earlier, Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, and Neeraj Zimba, the Darjeeling MLA, visited Assam, met chief minister Sarbananda Sonwal and representatives Gorkha organisations in the state.

In the video, Giri claimed other than Bengal, protests of over NRC have not been witnessed in any other state. "Earlier, the Congress and the CPM used the vote bank of Bangladeshis who live in Bengal and now, Trinamul is doing so. Leaders of the party are speaking against NRC only to appease the vote bank. Also, those who are running GTA these days are also opposing it," Giri said. GTA, the Gorkhland Territorial Administration, is headed by the Tamang faction's Anit Thapa.

Giri allayed fears over the NRC. "The original inhabitants of this region (north Bengal) should not feel concerned. Those living in tea gardens, cinchona plantations and forest villages have nothing to worry as they are not illegal immigrantsGiri's party is an ally of the BJP, whose leaders have said they want NRC in Bengal. "The Tamang faction and Trinamul are harping on NRC and the plight of the Gorkhas left out of the list. The Bimal faction is countering it," said an observer.