Updated on
Summary
A delegation of top functionaries of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) seeking support for their demand of a separate Gorkhaland met senior leaders of India's main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Monday.The members of the delegation reminded the BJP leaders that their party had stood by the demand for the creation of separate Gorkhaland out of West Bengal prior to the elections to the Lok Sabha (lower house of India parliament).Lal Krishna Advani, senior leader of BJP along with Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain listened to the demands f GJM. Roshan Giri, the General Secretary of GJM placed his outfit's view and the specific demands on the creation of the separate Gorkhaland and sought BJP's support to their struggle.Gorkhas has been agitating for a separate state of Gorkhaland 40 years before the Independence. It is right from 1907, our movement started. Under the leadership of Mr. Bimal Gurung, we are agitating on a very democratic, peaceful and a non-violent way. The movement for Gorkhaland is going on. We want a separate state within the framework of Indian Constitution. We do not resemble the rest of West Bengal. Our culture, our language, our traditions, our ethnicity, it is (all these are) very very different from the rest of West Bengal. We have been subjected to a colonial domination, we want to get liberated and have our state where we can grow, where our identity will be preserved, observed Roshan Giri, General Secretary, GJM. Earlier in the day, the four-day Bandh (shutdown), call given by the GJM in support of their demand for a separate Gorkhaland state began peacefully in Darjeeling in India's eastern state of West Bengal.Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalese, are demanding that a separate state of Gorkhaland in Darjeeling hills region be carved out of India's eastern state West Bengal, to protect their culture and heritage.The demand for Gokhaland gained momentum after New Delhi announced this week that it would carve out a new state called Telangana out of the present state of Andhra Pradesh in south India. Earlier, in cause of their crusade for the Gokhaland, the supporters of Gorkha GJM, took to the streets on Saturday (11) picketing at different points in all the sub-divisions of the region. Vehicles were off the roads and likewise, shop-keepers and owners of all the business establishments had observed a Shut Down by shuttering their structures.Activists of GJM claim that the government ought to consider their demand lest prompting them too, to sacrifice their lives.At least 1,200 people died in the first Gorkhaland campaign in the 1980s, but protests ended a few years later after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy. The Gorkha population in West Bengal is around one million out of over 80 million.
