GJM leaders meet BJP leaders, seek support for Gorkhaland
New Delhi:A delegation of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) seeking support for their demand for a separate Gorkhaland met senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Monday. The delegation met senior leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Arun
Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and apprised
them of the GJM demand. The delegation also reminded the BJP leaders that their party
had stood by the demand for the creation of separate Gorkhaland out of West Bengal,
prior to the elections to the Lok Sabha. The GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri,
maintained his outfit's view and the demands on creation of Gorkhaland and sought
the BJP's support to their struggle. "Gorkhas had been agitating for a separate
state of Gorkhaland 40 years before the Independence. It is right from 1907, our
movement started. Under the leadership of Bimal Gurung, we are agitating on a
very democratic, peaceful and a non-violent way. The movement for Gorkhaland is
going on. We want a separate state within the framework of Indian Constitution.
We do not resemble the rest of West Bengal," Giri said. "Our culture, our language,
our traditions, our ethnicity, it is very very different from the rest of West
Bengal. We have been subjected to a colonial domination, we want to get liberated
and have our state where we can grow, where our identity will be preserved," he
added. Earlier in the day, the four-day shutdown call given by the GJM in support
of their demand for a separate Gorkhaland state began was revoked after the delegation
was requested for the same reportedly by Advani and Swaraj. The demand for
Gorkhaland
gained momentum after the Centre announced beginning of the procedures to carve
out a new state of Telangana out of the Andhra Pradesh.
