The
Echo of India: Darjeeling: Tuesday, 16 December 2014.
At the call
of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president and Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration (GTA) chief executive Bimal Gurung, members of the newly formed Bharatiya Gorkha
Janjati Sangharsh Mahasangh (BGJSM), comprising 10 communities from the hills
of Darjeeling, will be in Delhi on December 17 to press their demand for
inclusion of these communities in the list of scheduled tribes.
“We have been
called to Delhi by the GJM president to meet concerned ministers on December
17. We have been asked to take one member each from the 10 communities, to get
a grip of what is happening with our demand, for ourselves. We will be leaving
for Delhi today”. BGJSM president Kanchan Gurung said on Monday.
“Darjeeling
MP S.S.Ahluwalia who is presently also in Delhi will facilitate our meetings
with ministers and officials, there,” he said. The BJP leader has backed the
GJM demand and also taken up the issue in the Centre.
In August,
Gurung had met union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram in Delhi and took up the
demand for conferring tribal status to 11 communities of the Hills including
one from plains. He had also submitted relevant documents to strengthen the
demand.
On his return
to Darjeeling, the GTA chief executive had met members of the 11 communities
and apprised them about the development in Delhi. He had then also promised to
invite these communities to Delhi to meet concerned ministers to take forward
the demand. “A lot of positive inroad has been made in regard to the demand of
conferring tribal status to ten communities from the Hills. We are doing
everything for speedy implementation. In fact, when I go to Delhi next time, I
will invite representatives from these communities to Delhi to meet concerned
ministers to see for their own what is happening,” Gurung had than said.
The 10
communities from the Hills are Bhujel, Gurung, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai,
Sunwar, Thami, and Yakkha Dewan and Dhimal from the plains of Dooars.
The demand
for tribal status to the Hills communities is also mentioned the 2011 GTA
agreement which was signed by the state and central government. The agreement
says that all Gorkha communities of the Hills excepting the Schedule Caste will
be conferred tribal status.
The BGJSM
president before leaving for Delhi said that he was hopeful of a positive
outcome from the visit. “Each of us has been struggling for the demand on our
own ways for a long time but without any result. None of the other political
parties of the Hills have either lent support or facilitated our endeavor. But,
this time we are hopeful and our anticipation high that with the GJM backing
our demand, our effort will bear fruit,” he said.
Interestingly,
in February this year, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had taken up
the issue and made a recommendation to the Centre to enlist 10 Hills
communities in the tribal status category. However, replying to a RTI filed by
an individual, the tribal welfare ministry in June rejected the state
government’s recommendation. (EOIC)
.JPG)
.JPG)
