The Gorkha National Liberation Front on Sunday said it had asked the
BJP to issue a clarification that the National Register of Citizens
would not affect the Gorkhas in Bengal, although the hill party claimed
such an exercise wouldn’t hit the community at all.
The GNLF said
it was seeking the clarification from the BJP just to dispel alleged
political propaganda that the NRC exercise could pose problems for the
Gorkhas in the Darjeeling hills.
BJP national president Amit Shah
had told an election campaign meeting in Alipurduar on Friday that the
NRC exercise would be carried out in Bengal if the party came to power.
On Saturday, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Binay Tamang expressed “shock” over Shah’s announcement.
Tamang referred to absence of “land rights to hill people” to buttress his claim.
“It
(announcement) has come as a shock to the Darjeeling people, more than
80 per cent of whom do not have land rights. It is a tell-tale sign of
uncertain future for the hill people without land rights if the BJP is
voted to power,” he had said.
Neeraj Zimba, the spokesman for the
GNLF, however, sought to dispel the fear on Sunday. “For the Gorkhas,
the NRC will not affect even their livestock and the vegetables they
grow,” he said.
However, Zimba did play safe and said: “I have
spoken to BJP central leaders; we also want the BJP to come up with a
specific clarification, even a white paper if possible, saying the NRC
will not affect the Gorkhas.”
Zimba cited articles of Indo-Nepal
Friendship Treaty, 1950, and a gazette notification issued by the Union
home ministry on August 23, 1988, to justify the GNLF’s stand.
The
basic contention of the GNLF is that “Gorkhas had come with the land”
as Darjeeling district was once part of Sikkim (independent country),
then Nepal, and later British India and Kalimpong district was once part
of Bhutan.
“We have not entered the country illegally. We have come with land. So, the NRC will not affect us,” said Zimba.
The
BJP has fielded Raju Bista in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat with the
backing of the GNLF and the Bimal Gurung faction of the Morcha.
Amar Singh Rai, the candidate of the Trinamul Congress-Morcha (Tamang) combine, however, refused to buy Zimba’s argument.
“In
Assam, where the cut-off date was 1971 (for citizenship of migrants),
around 2 lakh Gorkhas faced problems and various notifications did not
prevent them from being classified as D (doubtful) voters. In
Darjeeling, more than 80 per cent of people do not have land documents,”
Rai said in a statement.
“What would be the fate of these
landless people if 1950 is taken as a cut-off date for Gorkhas? That is
why we are raising the land right issue (in the election campaign,” said
Rai.
https://www.telegraphindia.com
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?