Rallies planned for north Bengal state as common forum piles heat on Narendra Modi government

The United Front for Separate State (UFSS) will submit memorandums to the President, Prime Minister and the Union home minister, hold a demonstration in Delhi and several public meetings across north Bengal ahead of the Parliament elections to press for the demand

Bimal Gurung (centre) at a meeting organised by the United Front for Separate State in Siliguri.:Picture by Passang Yolmo

TT Correspondent, Siliguri, 25.11.23, Siliguri: A forum of eight organisations that was formed to seek north Bengal state announced a slew of programmes on Friday to press the Narendra Modi government to meet the demand.

The programmes were decided on at a meeting of the United Front for Separate State (UFSS) in Singmari, Darjeeling, on Friday.

The UFSS will submit memorandums to the President, Prime Minister and the Union home minister, hold a demonstration in Delhi and several public meetings across north Bengal ahead of the Parliament elections to press for the demand.

“We have a one-point agenda and that is the formation of a separate state with eight districts of north Bengal. We will submit the memorandums to know the stand of the central government," Uttam Roy, the spokesperson for the UFSS, said after the meeting.

The UFSS is a forum of nine regional political parties and organisations — the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP), Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Kamtapur People's Party (United), Joy Birsa Munda Ulgulan, SC/ST Movement Committee, Progressive Peoples Party, Akhil Bharatiya Rajbanshi Samaj, Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association and Bhumiputra Unnayan Committee.

These organisations wield clout among Gorkhas, Rajbanshis and adivasis in north Bengal. Although the outfits' original demands are for Gorkhaland, Kamtapuri and Cooch Behar states, they formed the UFSS to press for the north Bengal state. Leaders of the nine outfits say once north Bengal is spun off from Bengal, their specific demands could be met easily.

Roy said the UFSS would organise public meetings in Siliguri on January 7, Malda or Raiganj on January 24 and Cooch Behar on January 28.

“The Centre didn't do anything for the people of north Bengal in the past 10 years although the BJP had promised that our demand would be considered. Let us be clear that if the demand is not met this time, there will be changes in political equations,” said Roy.

The BJP has always played the polarisation card in north Bengal and stoked the sentiments of different communities. In north Bengal, the party had won seven of eight constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 30 of 54 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections.

“Tribal, Gorkha and Rajbanshi outfits are no longer ready to trust the BJP. Unlike the Trinamul Congress, which is completely against the demand, the BJP has yet to make its stand clear. It would be interesting to see how the BJP handles the situation,” said an observer.

A leader of the KPP said: “Trinamul might be against our demand, but is clear in its stand and we appreciate it. The BJP should also make its stand clear on the demand for the separate state, instead of making empty promises to garner support.”

Bimal Gurung, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, was present at the meeting in Singmari.

Courtesy & source- The Telegraph