Siliguri: Leaders of Jan Andolan Party (JAP) on Saturday
trained guns at the state by accusing it of bias and declared that they
want to push the statehood demand for the Darjeeling hills through the
Parliament.
The party observed its foundation day and held a public meeting here, after denied permission in the hills.
"The state has decided to grant permission to couple of
parties to hold political programmes in hills. These are parties which
have allied with the state and fulfiling its agenda," said Amar Lama, a
JAP leader.
He was referring to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and GNLF. On Sunday, GNLF will hold a public meeting in Darjeeling.
Anmole Prasad, another leader of the party, said they would stick to the demand for separate statehood.
"Our demand is separate statehood and we feel that the
Parliament can make a decision on it and not the state or the Centre
alone. We are thus trying to push the matter so that it is discussed in
Parliament," said Prasad.
The public meeting was attended by 300-odd JAP supporters, who arrived at Baghajatin Park, located in the city.
"We were denied permission but did not felt any problem of
arranging the programme here in Siliguri. It is due to some political
parties in hills that the democratic movement on the demand for separate
state has suffered a setback. Our party has not deviated from its
agenda and has never indulged into any undemocratic activities," the JAP
leader said.
Party chief Harka Bahadur Chhetri, however, was not present at
the meeting. Sources said he could not make it to the venue due to some
other engagements.
The Telegraph
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