Bimal camp mocks -Binoy faction take on 'tripartite talks'

SNS, DARJEELING, 25 JULY 2020 : While the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (Binoy Tamang camp) today said that it was ready to take part in a tripartite meeting if convened on a one-point agenda of Gorkhaland, the other camp of the Morcha led by Bimal Gurung said the Tamang camp did not have the right to make such statements.

These statements from the two camps come after the Gurung camp recently met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and claimed that the minister had agreed to call a tripartite meeting to discuss Hill issues within a fortnight.

"We are ready to take part in the tripartite meeting if it is on the one-point agenda of Gorkhaland. We were also hopeful that the Centre was concerned about the issues oft he Gorkhas, as the state government had already said that the issues of the Hills were of the Centre," the Morcha's (Tamang camp) spokesperson, Keshav Raj Pokhrel, said.

"However, the MP has shown its true colour.What does it mean that they have not sent any invitation for the meeting? They are only interested in securing votes from here and do not want to solve the problems of the Gorkhas," he added.

According to him, the Gurung camp delegation that met Mr Shah had claimed that a letter would be sent to the Morcha and the state government by 23 July, but that it had not been done as yet.

Mr Pokhrel also said that if the claimed tripartite meeting was to discuss tribal status for 11 Gorkha communities, then the Centre could have taken a decision on it without having called such a meeting.

"The state government has twice recommended this matter to the central government and all the political parties in the hills are also in favour of it. This issue is with the RGI, which is under the central government. If they want they can take a decision on it without calling a tripartite meeting," he said.

Morcha (Gurung camp) general secretary, Roshan Giri, however, countered the same and said in a press release,"It is a laughable matter that the Binoy camp is issuing statements about its desire to be part of the tripartite meeting if it is was on a one-point agenda. They were the ones to end the 2017 agitation, which was going worldwide, under the directions of the state government. Making such statements does not suit them as they have lost the right to issue statements concerning issues of our community."

"Had they not sided with the state government, the agitation would have led to some result. When the central government is working towards a permanent political solution for our long-pending demand, they should not drool over it. The Binoy camp should stop making statements to fool the people," he said.

(Courtesy & source- The Statesman- https://epaper.thestatesman.com/2763141/Bhubaneswar-The-Statesman/26th-JULY-2020#page/2/2)