Darjeeling MP Raju Bista today said that only the parliament and the Indian Constitution can fulfill the aspirations and long-pending demands of people in the Hills, Terai and the Dooars. Mr Bista also said that the Gorkhas will never support the Trinamul Congress, which, according to him, had committed atrocities on the Hill people during the 2017 agitation for Gorkhaland.
“People from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency have elected me as their representative not for any reason but with the faith that I will be able to fulfill the aspirations of the people. Ever since that day, I have worked with absolute sincerity and dedication towards making that happen. In my short period as the MP from Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, I have knocked on every door and pushed for our issues to be resolved in every forum and sphere available to me. It is very important for our people to realize that our demands can only be fulfilled constitutionally and by the Parliament. Solution to all our issues and problems are there in the Constitution,” Mr Bista told reporters here today.
Citing examples of how the BJP government abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, resolved the Bodoland issue, put an end to Triple Talaq, and introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Labour Reforms he added, “I am confident that issues concerning Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars too will be resolved in the coming days.”
“Being a Gorkha myself, I say this with full responsibility that BJP is the only party that has till now respected and carried forward the aspirations of the people from our region. BJP is the only party that has committed to finding a Permanent Political Solution to the long pending demands of the people from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars and granting of ST status for the 11 left out Gorkhas sub-tribes, and I can assure you that BJP will fulfil our commitment,” he said.
According to him, he wishes Morcha leader Bimal “well on the path they have chosen to walk,” but that the Trinamul Congress will never do justice to the people from the region, “and joining them, directly or indirectly means giving up on the collective dreams and aspirations of the people.”
He was referring to Mr Gurung’s decision to sever ties with the BJP and join hands with the TMC. “It is for this very reason, I believe that the common people, Gorkhas especially who have suffered under the tyranny of TMC will never vote to bring back Mamata Banerjee as the next Chief Minister. They have zero respect for the dictatorial TMC and Mamata Banerjee, and in a democracy no one can take public sentiment lightly,” he said.
Maintaining that the BJP still had support of alliance parties like the Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Communist Party-Revolutionary Marxist, Mr Bista also claimed that the BJP was not weak and would win the Assembly elections next year.
“The strength of the BJP has increased here, but is invisible. We have our alliance parties like the CPRM and the GNLF with us and we will fight the elections and win,” Mr Bista said. According to him, his party is committed to fulfilling promises made in its manifesto.
“I still have about three-anda- half-years of my term left and nothing has ended. There is still a lot of time. I want such a solution for this area that the dreams of the Gorkhas are fulfilled. Our demand for identity, security of language along with safeguard of culture and tradition should all be engulfed by this solution,” he said.
“I would also like to say that the BJP was not responsible for the helpless situation of the Gorkhas and that the demand for Gorkhakand or PPS is not a six-year-old one, but a 100- year-old demand. There were lots of government earlier but they did not have a solution for it. It has just been six years of the Modi government. In the first five years, a lot of incidents took place in the Hills, which acted as obstacles. Now when work was being done rapidly and our number would have come, the Covid pandemic started,” he said.
Mr Bista also spoke on the need for everyone to be united as, according to him, raising more than one voice on an issue would guarantee a solution.