BGP welcomes CM on passing resolution in house

BGP welcomes CM on passing resolution in house
Allied Source

Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh

29 March, Gangtok: The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh welcomes the passing of a resolution by the Legislative Assembly of Sikkim urging for the formation of Gorkhaland. The demand for a separate state has been along-standing aspiration of the Gorkhas of India and is tied to the issue of their political identity as Indians. The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh holds that the wrongful identification of Indian Gorkhas as foreigners and settlers can only ever be resolved by the creation of a state for the Gorkhas under Article 3 (a) of the Constitution.

“We want to congratulate and thank Chief Minister Dr Pawan Chamling for initiating the resolution on Gorkhaland,” said Rev Dr Enos Das Pradhan, Working President of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh. Sikkim hadearlier played a stellar role in the movement for the recognition of Nepali as a national language and its inclusion in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. By becoming the first Chief Minister to pass a resolution on the creation of Gorkhaland, Dr Pawan Chamling has once shown again that Sikkim will not belie the hopes and expectations that Gorkhas across the country have from Dr Chamling and Sikkim.

The endorsing of Gorkhaland by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, a constitutional body, proves that the separate state demand is just, constitutional, legal, democratic and people-centred. The BGP had asked its unitsin 22 states of India to endeavour to get the subject of a separate state for Gorkhas raised in their respective state Assemblies. “Sikkim is the first State Assembly to do so,” said Dr Pradhan, adding, “the Sikkim state unit of the BGP also needs to be congratulated for their effort.” He hoped that such support would be forthcoming from other states too. On this historic occasion, the BGP also reiterates its appeal to political parties,organizations and the people at large to raise a collective voice for Gorkhaland since there is no alternative to a separate state in meeting the aspirations of the Gorkhas. Together, the Gorkhas can confront centuriesof bias and calumny and look ahead to a dignified future as nation builders in this great country. The State unit of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh had also convened an all party meeting of all the national and regional political parties of Sikkim on 17.08.2008 and submitted a joint memorandum to the Sikkim Chief Minister with the request to pass a resolution on Gorkhaland demand in the State Assembly. The State unit of BGP is overwhelmed and once again thanked the Chief Minister Dr. Chamling and all the Members of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.