Siliguri
9 Nov 2013
He said, “I want to go to Parliament for
seven reasons and the chief among them is with the demand of a separate
state for the people of Darjeeling and the Dooars.”
Held under the stewardship of army
veteran Col (Retd) BK Rai, the public meeting was attended by Gorkha
Rashtriya Nirman Morcha chief Dawa Pakhrin, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh
president Dr. Enos Das Pradhan and All India Gorkha League general
secretary Pratap Khati, among others. A huge crowd had gathered to hear
the leaders speak and Lama handed out the DDUDF flag to them.
“I do not want change, I want
transformation in people,” said Lama. “All communities living in the
Darjeeling hills and the Dooars such as Bengalis, Biharis, Marwaris,
Nepalis, Bhutias, Lepchas and others can take advantage of a new state. A
person belonging to any community can be the chief minister of this
state. This will only happen if we unite and come under the DDUDF
banner. As everybody wants a separate state for his or her own reasons, a
new state will be for the benefit of all communities.”
He said his decision to contest in the
general election as an independent candidate from Darjeeling is to
create a path for the creation of a separate state. Once elected to
Parliament, he would pursue seven major issues related to the Darjeeling
hills and the Dooars, asserted the academician.
Further, Lama said he wants educational
institutions, both national and international, to be established in the
region. “I would like to invite the maximum number of foreign investors
to the region. Darjeeling is surrounded by four international borders.
Fair international trade can be practiced here. NGOs and INGOs could be
linked up with several ministries of India and foreign governments. This
will help educated youths to earn livelihood as well as engage in
social work. We don’t want gifts from the government, we want our
rights,” he noted.
Lama cited examples of other hilly
states in the country that are exempted from Income Tax and expressed
his desire to make Darjeeling a tax free region.
The BGP president noted that after a
long and unproductive agitation, the people of the hills have found the
right person to lead them. “Dr. Lama has come like light after darkness
for the future of the Gorkhas,” asserted Pradhan. He said the BGP had
joined the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee under the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha’s leadership for statehood, but the agitation proved futile. He
also appealed to the people to participate in the mass gatherings in
Delhi in the month of December.
Meanwhile, GRNM president Dawa Pakhrin
used the occasion to announce his party’s decision to support Lama in
the 2014 Lok Sabha election, with AIGL general secretary speaking on the
same lines. Khati said any opposition to Lama would mean going against
the demand for separate statehood.
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