Mahendra P Lama suggested as candidate for Darjeeling LS seat by social organization

The "Mato ko Awaaz Samuha," has suggested the name of Mahendra P Lama as the candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.

EOI, DARJEELING, 12 FEBRUARY 2024 : Questions are being raised against the inability of the BJP to explain the delay in fulfilling its election promise even as the Lok Sabha election is knocking at the door. 

The "Mato ko Awaaz Samuha," a newly floated social organization based in the hills, has suggested the name of Mahendra P Lama as the candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. Lama, an academic, had  unsuccessfully contested the2014 Lok Sabha election as an independent candidate against the BJP candidate S.S. Ahluwalia. 

Lama was the founding president of the Darjeeling Dooars United Development Foundation, anon-political organization which has now become dormant. Senior member of "Mato ko Awaaz Samuha,"

Bhawani Pradhan on Monday said it would not accept any form of imposition of candidates from outside the hills. 

"We have always accepted candidates who are from outside and not sentimentally attached to the aspiration of Gorkhaland. All these years political parties have imposed candidates on us,

"Pradhan said. 

He said this time the hills should send a candidate to Parliament with knowledge and contributions to the region and the vision of a separate state of Gorkhaland. 

"He (Lama) is not only the son of the soil but has vast political knowledge and can lobby well in Delhi because of his many engagements with the Centre over the years. He also has the vision of how to achieve Gorkhaland," he said. 

Lama was a professor in the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a member of the National Security Advisory Board, Chief Economic Advisor to the Sikkim government and founding Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University. 

Asked about the possibility of Lama contesting the election with a BJP ticket, Pradhan said: "Our doors are open. We Mahendra P Lama suggested as candidate for Darjeeling LS seat by social organization would want to go with the party that will be in power in Delhi which is where our demands can be achieved. 

The BJP has not done anything for the Gorkha community in the last 15years. It is also a reality that it was during Congress rule that our demand for recognition of Nepali language was fulfilled and we got the DGHC and the GTA."