Hills get another political party; BGSP floated

SNS, DARJEELING. 24 APRIL: Darjeeling Hills today got yet another political party, when the Bharatiya Gorkha Suraksha Parishad (BGSP) was launched on the Himalaya Kala Mandir premises here today. The party flag that was also unveiled today has orange colour in the top and green in the bottom, with a white circle in the middle, which further has a marigold flower.

The party was floated by former leader of the All-India Gorkha League (AIGL) SP Sharma, along with other leaders who had quit the ABGL (Bharati Tamang camp) earlier.

The new party, identified until now as just the BGSP was active even before its formation with it putting up posters at Chowk Baazar here recently, raising different demands that it said must be fulfilled before the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration elections are held.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch programme today, Mr Sharma said, "The main reason behind forming a new party was that many parties here talked about the rights of the people, but in the end carried the agenda of the state or the central governments. There was a need for a party that does not carry the agenda of the state or the Centre, but takes up issues related to the people."

Mr Sharma maintained that more "like-minded people" would be joining them in the days to come, due to which the portfolios of the leaders were yet to be finalised. While maintaining that the main agenda of his new party would be statehood, he said that they would work towards the security of Indian Gorkhas.

"We have already started our programmes before the launch of our party, with us putting up posters regarding demands that should be fulfilled before the GTA elections, and we will be meeting the administration regarding it in a few days," he said.

The party has demanded that people who have been arrested politically from 2007 should be released and cases taken back. Along with that, they have also demanded that a discussion be held regarding the electricity bills pending since the 2017 agitation period. The other demands include an audit to the GTA funds.

Speaking about the BJP, Mr Sharma said, "Union Home minister Amit Shah will be visiting West Bengal soon. "The BJP has won the elections here, promising statehood, and now they should clarify what the Permanent Political Solution is before the Home Minister's visit here." He also maintained that their first step towards statehood was to "expose" political parties that had been saying that Gorkhaland was their issue and put pressure on them.