CBI will reach the hills after April 25, says Raju Bista

Gurung also welcomed the CBI to the hills after April 25.

YAWAN GURUNG, EOI, MIRIK, APRIL 18, 2024  : Addressing an election rally in Mirik on Thursday ,BJP candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat Raju Bista said a team of the CBI would be reaching the hills after April 25 and asked every corrupt leader to get ready to face the CBI.

The polling for the Darjeeling seat is on April 26. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President Bimal Gurung who was present in the meeting talked about several developments that had taken place in Mirik with GJM at the helm at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. “Duringour time Mirik was so beautifully developed, but now everything has been destroyed,” he said. 

Bimal Gurung requested every Gorkha to “recall the memories of martyrs during the agitation of 2017” and vote on the lotus symbol “to take revenge of those bullets from the state police and the government.” 

Gurung also welcomed the CBI to the hills after April 25. Recalling the recent coming into prominence of “some of the most brilliant young Gorkha scholars from the Mirik region,” Raju Bista mentioned about Jayashree Pradhan who had cleared the UPSC with an all-India rank of 52. She had her roots in Soureni, Mirik, Bista said. 

He also recalled ISRO scientist from Oakyti, Mirik, Nirupam Sharma who was associated with the Chandrayaan 3 project and the landing on the southern side of the moon. “My vision is to make sure we nurture such brilliance. 

We cannot nurture future scientists, doctors, engineers, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, if we allow Ghotala teachers to teach them,” Raju Bista said, in abroad side against the teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal. “We need to provide them with good teachers, so that better students can be produced. This is why, I request the people, when you vote, don't just think of now, think of where do you want to see our community, our region,10-years from today,” he said. “The Mirik valley is one of the most beautiful, and productive valleys of Darjeeling,” Bista said. 

“It is a major tourist destination in the eastern Himalayas, and widely recognized for its extensive cultivation of organic agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, homestays and high quality education,” Bista said.

“The fulfillment of our major issues, constitutional solution for the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars region, re-inclusion of 11Gorkha-sub Tribes as Scheduled Tribes, parjapatta land rights to the teagarden, cinchona garden, forest villagers, and DI Fund land residents will be among my top priority. He mentioned the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Siliguri that the government was close to a solution of the Gorkha issues.

“Along with this, my vision is to make sure that the people from our Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars get a level playing field,” Bista said. 

“Our youths are immensely talented and hardworking. I am confident that given a level playing field, where they are not discriminated against, they have the ability to outshine all others. I want to develop our region as a hub of of education, tourism, and hub of medical excellence, by establishing Medical Colleges in the region, Central Institutions for higher education and professional courses(engineering, management etc.), a Centre for Alternative Medicines and Naturopathy, ensure skill training and capacity-building for the youths of our region, establish IT and ITES SEZ in the region, so that our youths won't have to travel to distant cities to search for education, employment and livelihood opportunities.”
Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba, Gorkha National Liberation Front Central Secretary Rishi Thapa, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists Arun Ghatani and Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha President Dawa Pakhrin were present in the meeting.