Party launched with eye on Dooars

May 12: A number of outfits demanding a separate state comprising the six north Bengal districts today joined hands to form a new party called the Bharatiya Gorkha Janahit Morcha. The formation of the party was announced at a meeting held in Agrasen Bhavan in Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri district, where leaders of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Separate State Demand Forum — a common platform of parties such as the Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) and some Naxalite factions — and some workers of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha from the Dooars and Terai were present. The party flag was also unfurled today. “A 10-member central committee of the new party was formed today. The basic demand of the party is statehood for the six north Bengal districts. We feel that the region can be developed only if it is severed from West Bengal and a new state is formed,” said Gidan Rai, an erstwhile Morcha leader from Darjeeling who is now the president of the new party. “Our party would function in a democratic manner and soon announce a series of movements to achieve the demand,” he added. Sabit Lama, a former Morcha leader from Nagrakata, is the general secretary and Bikram Chhetri, former president of the local committee of the Janmukti Yuva Morcha in Panighata, is the treasurer of the new party. “Over decades, people of the Dooars, Terai and other parts of north Bengal have been exploited by political parties and leaders. The last example being Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Bimal Gurung who utilised us for their own interests and later ignored our demands and rights,” Bikram said. “We will no longer allow them to use us and we have formed this party which will work for the people of this region and north Bengal as a whole.” The demand for a separate state for the region is in consonance with the demands of Rajbanshi organisations such as the KPP, GCPA (Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association) and GCDP (Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party). Like the newly-formed PPP, the KPP and the GCDP also want a separate state carved out of the north Bengal districts. The GCPA also wants parts of Lower Assam to be included. Asked if the new outfit will contest the rural polls, Lama said: “When the polls are announced, we will decide on the issue.