Call for Gorkhaland renewed

Darjeeling: As the popular saying goes “it was the straw that broke the camel’s back….” Bimal Gurung, the charismatic and popular Singamari-Tukvar samasty councilor seems to have had enough of GNLF leadership and their empty promises including that of Party Chairman and hitherto unchallenged Mr. Subash Ghising. Speaking today at a huge public rally at Old Super Market, Darjeeling, Mr. Gurung renewed the call for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Mr. Gurung today launched a new political group “Gorkha Janmukit Moracha”, and he has called for people across political lines to join this group so that the hills can speak with one voice to attain Gorkhaland.

It was evident today that he was not alone, in support of his call various political and apolitical figures including school teachers had come from different parts of the Darjeeling Hills. People had traveled from as far as Rimbick Lodhoma to Todey-Tangta in Kalimpong to show solidarity with Mr, Gurung and his call. Even from within the GNLF supporting him are various so called ‘rebel’ leaders prominent among them being Mr. Dinesh Gurung (a.k.a. karate kaila), councilor ward no 26.

Politics does produce strange bed fellows, it was a treat to see the AGSU President Mr. Roshan Giri share the same dais with Mr. Gurung. It is to be remembered that AGSU was at loggerheads with GNLF, and always felt threatened by Mr. Gurung and his followers. Mr. Giri said that “we welcome the dedication and commitment shown by Mr. Gurung and we support him wholeheartedly”. Similar sentiments were echoed by various members of the Darjeeling Bar Association.

The main theme of today’s rally was not just to renew the call for a separate state of Gorkhaland but also to make people aware that Mr. Ghising is no more the sole Champion of the people of the hills or their aspirations. Speaking in this respect Mr. Gurung said “I have always worked sincerely for my people and will continue to do so……… “ referring to the assassination of Mr. C.K. Pradhan, Mr. Gurung said that “everyone knows who murdered Mr. Pradhan, the only entity which remains uninformed seems to be the State Government, hence, we demand for an impartial C B I inquiry into the matter”. Further Mr. Gurung said that “do not take me to be like other GNLF leaders who will surrender meekly, do not even think of murdering me……. I have already dedicated my life for my community and even if I die there will be a 1000 thousand more Bimal Gurungs tomorrow.”

Mr. Gurung also added “we are lucky to be born in the land of Mahatma Gandhi and we do not need to be violent, a separate state is our right and we shall attain it peacefully.”

By looking at the show of strength as support that has flown in from all corners of the Darjeeling Hills, people expect some kind of political turmoil in the coming days. As one senior reporter quipped “the days of the Ek Chatra Raj are long gone, finally Darjeeling seems to have woken up from its slumber.”

Diwaskar Chettri and Shailendra Mani Pradhan,
Correspondents, DT

CREATION OF GORKHALAND WILL THREATEN THE SECURITY OF INDIA By Dr. Dipak Basu Veteran Naxalite leader and the CPI-ML general secretary, Mr Kanu Sanyal has expressed support towards the ongoing agitation in the Darjeeling hills demanding a separate Gorkhaland state. The Maoist leader said, his party had favoured the Gorkhaland demand earlier and supports it now as well. "The Nepalis in Darjeeling have got every right to self-rule and the demand for Gorkhaland is very genuine. But how genuine is that demand? The fact remains that the Nepalese are not the original inhabitants of Darjeeling. By all means, except for the few who were in Darjeeling before 1950, almost all of them are Nepalese citizens i.e., foreigners but due to the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950 were allowed to stay in India. Does that treaty gave them the right to demand a separate state? If we look back in history Nepalese were in expansionary mode before. The Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814 - 1816, was fought between Nepal and the British East India Company as a result of aggresive attacks by Nepalese on both India and Tibet. Gorkhas were originated in West-central Nepal. The Gorkha army, after occupying all of eastern Nepal by 1773, invaded Sikkim in 1788. In the west, the Kumaon region and its capital Almora, were occupied by Gorkhas as well. To the north however, aggression against Tibet forced China in 1792 to attack Nepal and occupy areas very close to the capital Kathmandu. However, the Gurkha appetite of invasion was not stopped. In 1803, the Kingdom of Garhwal was occupied by the Gurkhas. Further west, even Kangra was occupied until in 1809, but Ranjit Singh the Sikh Emperor drove them out. Finally the British defeated them and drove them out of all these areas in India and Sikkim. In the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816, Darjeeling was returned back to Sikkim. According to the treaty, Nepal lost Sikkim, the territories of Kumaon and Garhwal, and most of the lands of the Tarai in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Darjeeling was annexed by the British Indian Empire in 1849. Immigrants from Nepal were recruited to work at construction sites, tea gardens, and on other agriculture-related projects; but their numbers were few and far between. After the independence of India in 1947, Darjeeling was merged with the state of West Bengal. The separate district of Darjeeling was established consisting of the hill towns of Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and some parts of the Terai region. When Tibet was occupied by in 1950, thousands of Tibetan refugees settled across Darjeeling district. Darjeeling has seen significant growth in its population during and after 1950, when the Nepalese started coming in, especially since the 1970s. Annual growth rates reached as high as 45% in the 1990s, far above the national, state, and district averages. Nepalese were mainly labourers as they could work at high altitudes. They stayed on in India but they still identify themselves with Nepali music, culture, art and tradition. During the 1980s, encouraged by some section of The Congress party, particularly Arjun Singh, who wanted to destabilise the leftist government of West Bengal, a violent movement by the Gorkha National Liberation Front started demanding a separate state. As a compromise Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was given semi-autonomous powers to govern the district. Later its name was changed to "Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council" (DGAHC), although Gurkha are not the original people but immigrants to Darjeling from Nepal. Gurkhs are Nepalese, not Indian at all. The land in Darjeeling was always belonged to the Lepchas. This was true during the signing of the brotherhood treaty between Tibetans and Lepchas in the 1420s, during the Nepalese invasion of the 1760s, or when the East India Company took Darjeeling in 1816. However, the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950, Article VII, grants citizens of both countries to move, reside and own property and participate in trade and commerce in each other"s territory. Nepalese taking advantage of that treaty came to India to demand a separate state, but would Nepal tolerate a similar demand by the Indian citizens who are now settled in Nepal? India is always a soft state without any strategy, without any policy and even it does not react but always give in to the demands by its neighbouring countries. In similar circumstances in 1950s when large numbers of Indians were settled in Burma and Sri Lanka, they got expelled and India had accepted them back without protests. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have expelled almost all non-Muslims. However, now when India is facing the prospect of a very violent country Nepal, controlled by vicious Maoists closely linked with China, and expanding through the emigrations of its citizens, India"s response is to offer more autonomy to these foreign citizens in India and allow them to come to India more and more to take over even larger areas. Nepalese demand today is not restricted to the Darjeeling District any more; they are demanding practically the whole of north Bengal as a part of their new state of Gurkhaland. Nepalese immigrants already taken over Sikkim, where they are today more than 70 percent of the population. Two questions should be asked. How long would it take these Nepalese through immigration to take over parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarachal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which they had occupied during the early 19th century? What would be implications of that given the close relationship between the present government of Nepal and China for the security of India? The government of India does not care about these, but it is urging the West Bengal government to compromise more, although the creation of Gurkhaland as a Nepalese controlled area threatens the link between India and the whole of the North Eastern India. DEMANDS OF UTTARBANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH 1. Both the demands of Sixth Schedule and separate State of Gorkhaland would mean ultimate partition and disintegration of West Bengal. Both the demands should be rejected. 2. Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council may be abolished and the Darjeeling District put directly under state administration, with Army protection. 3. Clause-VII Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950 may be repealed to prevent foreign Nepali infiltration. 4. All foreign Nepalese should be identified and pushed back to Nepal, as per the Foreigners Act, 1864 as is being done in the case of illegal Bangladeshi migrants. 5. Border outposts be set up with barbed-wire fencing. Visa be introduced in the Indo-Nepal border as is the case with Bangladesh.
(Posted by UTTAR BANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH, July 15, 2008, 9:12 AM)

HANA YO UTTAR BANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH le manch payena ki kya ho...yaha ta comments PO publish gar BHANEKO toharuko distorted itihash hoina...kaha bata copy paste garyo kuni?
(Posted by SUMERU MANCH, August 8, 2008, 8:17 AM)

Saw your website: www.jagaranmanch.blogspot.com (Posted by UTTAR BANGA JANA JAGARAN MANCH, July 5, 2008, 6:26 AM) - .............. Sorry to say your website is: WARPED, TINTED AND TAINTED"............... Now why don't you see the "ALL INDIA as well as the WORLD WIDE" page - "www.TheStatesman.net" (one of the most prestigious News Dailies) and look on the right side of the webpage.............. where there is a poll that says: "Does West Bengal Deserve Darjeeling" and the answer is: a most resounding and most surprising (for people who think like you) is 66 percent NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............you all don't get it ....... DO YOU??? MR JONES???
(Posted by Gorkhs Dajus, July 10, 2008, 11:37 PM)

The gorkhas belong to the WEST of KATHMANDU. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~poyntz/India/images/Bengalmap8bit(4).JPG GO THERE AND DEMAND GORKHA LAND. YOU PEOPLE ARE NEPALIS NOT GORKHAS.
(Posted by Amal bose, June 28, 2008, 3:58 PM)

COME ON Gorkhaland Lovers, log on to http://www.thestatesman.net and vote for Darjeeling. As anti-Gorkhaland people are voting that our Darjeeling belongs to them. Vote as much as possible as Darjeeling belongs to Gorkhas. GORKHALAND IS OUR DREAM LET US MAKE IT REALITY BY OUR UNITY. JAI GORKHA
(Posted by Sailesh Rai, June 16, 2008, 11:45 PM)

Dear Puku..... My previous post does not pinpoint anyone nor does it oppose the current wave in the hills.....But i wanna make people aware of the pros and the cons of supporting a leader.....and that the people should support the cause..i.e. Gorkhaland in this case and not the leader blindly.....Once the people gain this consiousness we will be less vulnerable to politicals gimmicks and real development will start to take place in Darjeeling....Again repeating the words we will ahve to give issue based support...we dont wanna fool ourselves again...
(Posted by The Drunk Monk, November 20, 2007, 10:29 AM)

People should understand the meaning of gorkhaland it means our land.people should combine together and support Mr Bimal Gurung instead of pinpointing him.like dunk monk,baby,kishore and tika should have the guts to come up and speak for the peole but not insult them.there is a saying that people can see even a small lice walking on back of others but cannot see the elephant walking behind their back.i hope you peole can understand what i mean.
(Posted by puku gurung, November 19, 2007, 8:04 AM)

Call for Gorkhaland renewed

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