Darjeeling oppn trio forms ‘Gorkha Swabhiman Manch’ to revive demand for Gorkhaland

Tamang recently severed ties with the Trinamool Congress.

All three leaders directly or indirectly admitted that while the immediate aim of establishing this new platform is to oppose the Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) and Trinamool Congress alliance, the larger and long-term aim is to the separate claim of Gorkhaland as a state.

Most outspoken on this issue is GJM chief Bimal Gurung who said that the separate state of Gorkhaland is necessary in the interest of the Gorkha community.

“We will start new agitation over this demand. However, our movement will be peaceful and democratic and the demonstrators will not resort to violence of any kind,” he said.

Hamro Party founder and chief Ajay Edwards said the pattern of movement in the Gorkhaland issue will be intellectual in nature. “We must be vocal in our demands for the sake of the hills and the people of the hills,” he said.

Binoy Tamang said the new platform was created to protect the self-interest of the Gorkha community. “All we want is for the people of the community to live with self-respect and that’s why there will be a united movement on this issue,” he said.

However, BGPM chief Anit Thapa does not want to give much importance to the new platform. “Their only goal is to defame us. They have no specific political program,” Thapa claimed.

According to an expert in North Bengal and North East Indian politics, Nirmlaya Banerjee, this was inevitable as the permanent political solution to the hills as perceived by the opposition trio is not complete without the inclusion of the separate state issue of Gorkhaland.

“So the development on this point was inevitable. At the same time, the newly forged Gurung-Tamang-Edwards unit was also inevitable to go to the BGPM-Trinamool Congress alliance, as all three factions of the opposition trio understand very well that individually will they can’t stand anywhere,” he said.

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