Gorkhas may step up campaign

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, the voice for a separate hill state that had gone quiet in recent times, is beefing up plans to leverage the latest development in the South to realise its ‘Gorkhaland’ demand.’

“We express solidarity with the Telengana movement and we demand that a bill for Gorkhaland and a separate bill for Telengana ought to be tabled in parliament in this winter session,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told DHNS here over telephone from Darjeeling.

Extending his movement’s support to Telengana, Giri said 17 supporters including students have so far committed suicide. “Telengana Rastriya Samity(TRS) leaders are in constant touch with us. The Centre will have to consider both Telengana and 102 year-old demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in the Darjeeling hill areas,” Giri said.

He said the onus  to support the bill in the Parliament is on the BJP, which had mentioned the Gorkhaland in its manifesto, and reminded that Jaswant Singh has been elected from Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat riding high on the party’s support to establish the state.

The BJP, Giri said, therefore has to raise the issue in the Parliament and if a bill for Telengana is tabled, a bill for Gorkhaland will be a “natural extension” of the process.