Martyr’s Day unites Gorkha leaders on statehood demand Nepal should give citizenship to Indian Gorkhas if India can’t solve identity crisis, says Bimal Gurung

EOI, DARJEELING, JULY 27, 2023 : The hill political parties on Thursday bridged the division over over ideology and agenda and evoked the demand for a separate state on the occasion of Martyrs’ Day, observed to remember 13 people killed in police firing in Kalimpong in 1986. 

This incident is considered to be the beginning of the statehood agitation in the hills of Darjeeling. On that day GNLF cadres protesting the 1950 Indo-Nepal treaty clashed with the police at Engine Dara, 9th Mile, Kalimpong. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung said Nepal should consider giving citizenship to the Indian Gorkhas, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha wanted a government favourable to the cause of the Gorkhas in Delhi while the Gorkha National Liberation Front asserted it was a matter of time before Bengal was partitioned.

Speaking on the sidelines of a programme at the Gorkha Dukha Nivarak Sammelan Hall in Darjeeling, Bimal Gurung said: “If the Indian Government cannot solve the problem of identity crisis and Gorkhas who are still being branded as foreigners then Nepal should give Gorkhas citizenship.” Gurung said 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could help cool the nerves of the Gorkha community by showing solidarity on the Independence Day on August 15. 

"We have been misled by the BJP government with empty promises. We will wait till August 15 and then announce our future programme for the statehood demand. Our women's wing will stage dharna in Jantar Mantar from August 5 to create pressure on the government," he said.

Addressing another Sahid Diwas event at Panighatta, in the foothills of Darjeeling, GNLF secretary general Neeraj Zimba said: “We demand our own land. A good signal is coming from Delhi. We should not criticize them much as those going to Delhi can smell it. I will not say Gorkhaland will happen but all I can say is Bengal will be divided. 

The division of Bengal will take place, and work is in progress. Now all that remains is the matter to be given an official seal.” Zimba is also the BJP MLA from Darjeeling. In the Gorkhaland agitation that followed about1200 people were said to have died. 

The Sahid Diwas is organized every year in their memory. Apart from the martyrs that died in the GNLF agitation, those who had died in the GJM led agitation from 2007 onwards are also remembered and honored.