Ripples in Darj Hills over exclusion of Gorkhas

Deep Gazmer | TNN | Sep 4, 2019, Darjeeling: The NRC exercise has become a talking point in Darjeeling Hills after one lakh Gorkhas in Assam were reportedly excluded from the final list. This, despite an assurance to the community during the Lok Sabha polls that the Union government will take care of Gorkhas.

A section among Gorkhas in the Hills maintains that exclusion from the final NRC list goes against the MHA’s statement on Gorkhas. According to the MHA statement issued while the NRC exercise in Assam was on says that Gorkhas residing in India for long can’t be sent to the foreigners’ tribunal for adjudication of their identity.

The Union home ministry has clarified that members of the Gorkha community who were Indian citizens at the time of commencement of the Constitution, or who are Indian citizens by birth, or those who have acquired Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization in accordance with the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, are not ‘foreigners’ as per the section 2 (a) of the Foreigners Act, 1946, as well as the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and therefore, such cases will not be referred to the foreigners’ tribunal.

The Binoy Tamang faction of GJM has asked BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista and MLA Niraj Zimba for clarification and will also send a team to Assam to assess the situation. “We are not against NRC, but we don’t want to be made scapegoats in the name of national security. The NRC is a conspiracy to displace the Gorkha community as proven in Assam. The Darjeeling MP and MLA must explain,” said Tamang. The Tamang faction will hold a central committee meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue before sending a fact-finding delegation to Assam.

Bista has recently asked people not to get waylaid by rumours as it did not have basis and facts and that the Gorkha community would be protected at all cost. Bimal Gurung, leading the other faction of GJM, too, expressed his worry over the exclusion of Gorkhas in Assam and announced he would send a team to assess the ground reality.

Amar Lama, senior bureau member of Jan Andolan Party (JAP) who is closely monitoring the situation, said the main objective of NRC was to identify illegal immigrants and migrants. Lama claimed that Gorkhas would be protected by the Citizenship Act of 1955. “It (NRC) is vague at the moment. We are only dwelling on speculation. However, it is also important that we keep our documents prepared as we will have to show proof, but in case of Gorkhas we will not be tried in the foreigners’ tribunal,” he said.

Jiwan Namdung, academician and writer, held that NRC was being used as a political propaganda. “We should not comment on something without facts and figures. People are putting across their views without proper verification. In case of Assam, we don’t know exactly what the situation is, as the government has not issued any notification. In the Hills, we will face it when it (NRC) happens,” he said.