India foments unrest in Gorkhas’ region

As the Gorkha land agitation which started in June this year, is still continuing unabated in India, GJM (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) leader, Roshan Giri, has embarked on a mission to contact Nepalese-origin Gorkha soldiers employed in Gorkha Regiments of Indian Army and apprise them that their Gorkha brethren are being killed in Darjeeling town of West Bengal state for raising voice for their rights.

The GJM leader, Roshan Giri, has also held meetings with prominent Indian leaders and briefed them about the current unrest in Darjeeling which started due to a decision taken by West Bengal’s Chief Minister and adoption of Gorkha Territorial Administration Act by Indian Parliament.

As for the decision taken by West Bengal’s CM, it aims at declaring Bangla language a compulsory language for all school-going children in the State including Gorkha-dominated areas which speak Nepalese language that was recognized in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution following the efforts undertaken by their leader Subash Ghsingh. And the Gorkha Territorial Administration Act has been passed by the Indian Parliament to quell the unrest in Darjeeling and BJP leader Jaswant Singh won the elections on the promises to facilitate welfare of the Gorkhalies but these promises remained unfulfilled.

And now Roshan Giri has gone to the extent of proposing that in order to counter India’s policies of interference, Nepal government should also intervene in support of Gorkha land as majority of the people in Darjeeling are of Nepalese origin. He has floated the idea that if Gorkha land becomes autonomous, then it would also ease Nepal’s dependency on India for her trade and transit.

Not only this, Roshan Giri says that historically, Darjeeling is a part of Nepalese territories. He says that Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal and for this purpose he alludes to the times when Nepal (Greater Nepal) was united under King of Gorkhas, Prithvi Narayan Shah.

But despite all the efforts to protect the rights of people of Nepalese origin, Indian authorities are continuously engaged in the killing of Nepalese-origin people in this region.