Public meeting on statehood this month

Citizens’ Forum, formed early this year by Mahendra P. Lama along with other leaders who were formerly with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to shed its 'apolitical' avatar

Mahendra P. Lama

Vivek Chhetri   |   TT  |  Darjeeling   |   01.12.22 : A public meeting to demand Gorkhaland has been lined up in Darjeeling this December.

Citizens’ Forum, formed early this year by Mahendra P. Lama, founding vice-chancellor of Sikkim University, along with other leaders who were formerly with Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and then with the BJP like Swaraj Thapa and Raju Pradhan, has decided to shed its “apolitical” avatar and turn into a political party.

Lama said: “We have decided to convert (Citizens’ Forum) into a political organisation and in the process we are taking various steps including organising a public meeting in Darjeeling on December 18.”

Lama was earlier associated with the Jan Andolan Party (JAP), which was headed by former Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri. The party is currently inactive.

Lama had also contested the 2014 Lok Sabha seat as an Independent from Darjeeling and bagged 55,767 votes. The 2014 elections were won by BJP leader S.S.Ahluwalia from Darjeeling who bagged 4.8 lakh votes. The BJP candidate had been backed by Gurung’s Morcha.

“Our main agenda is to create the state of Gorkhaland and we are discussing ways to take forward our issue in these changing times. Also, we have finished work on drafting the party’s constitution,” said Lama.

Last Sunday, Ajoy Edwards, president of Hamro Party, had also given a clarion call to like-minded political parties to come together to press for the statehood issue.

Five Darjeeling municipality councillors of Hamro Party who recently defected to the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), came out in the public for the first time since their defection on November 24. They visited the BGPM office in Darjeeling but did not interact with reporters.

Until now, the five were staying in Siliguri, away from public eye.

Courtesy & source- The Telegraph