Mech community to support TMC in LS polls

Dila Shoibo, working president of All India Mech Samaj, announced their support at a press conference at the Siliguri Journalist Club on Thursday. 

Sanchita Aich Bag, MP,  4 Apr 2024 10:43 PM Siliguri: After being betrayed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the All India Mech Samaj, an association of Mech community people, has decided to support the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Dila Shoibo, working president of All India Mech Samaj, announced their support at a press conference at the Siliguri Journalist Club on Thursday. 

“BJP had promised to make us a development board. However, they failed to deliver on that promise and have also ignored our other demands. Therefore, we feel betrayed and have decided to support Trinamool Congress this time,” said Shoibo. 

The state government has already formed 13 development boards for different communities. These boards have been working to develop the communities. The Mech community people were inspired by this work. 

Recently, they sent a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanding the formation of their board. They even held a meeting with Anit Thapa, Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and requested him to arrange a meeting with the Chief Minister. 

Anit Thapa also assured them of the meeting. The community had supported BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. They had demanded recognition of the Mech language from the BJP along with the formation of a development board. However, no action was taken by the BJP. 

Even the MPs did not talk to them about this. There are about one-and-a-half lakh voters in three districts, 11,000 voters in Darjeeling district, 35,000 in Jalpaiguri and more than 1 lakh voters in Alipurduar. 

They will support all three candidates of these three Lok Sabha constituencies. They will also campaign for them from Friday in village areas. 

“We are running 130 Mech language schools. We want the state government to acquire these schools. About 35,000 students have been studying in these schools. Our language is included in the eighth schedule, so we want to study in our language,” Shoibo further added. 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/mech-community-to-support-tmc-in-ls-polls-558614