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Journalism of Courage
The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) today passed a resolution seeking a separate state for the Indian Gorkhas even as it demanded that the government should immediately stop recruitment of citizens of Nepal in the Indian Army by reviewing the 1950 India-Nepal Friendship Treaty.
“We have always been Indians. Our similarity with Gorkhas from Nepal in terms of physical features and culture has created an identity crisis among the Indian Gorkhas,” CK Shrestha, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh’s working president, told reporters here.
Speaking after the three-day National Convention of Gorkhas here, he said, “So we demand that the government should immediately put an end to the practice of recruiting Nepalese Gorkhas in the Indian Army.”
Speaking about the resolution calling for a separate state, the BGP working president said, “A separate state will clear the uncertainty and ambiguity regarding nationality of the Indian Gorkhas once and for all.”
Demanding a linguistic minority status for the Indian Gorkhas and rights and allowances thereof, he said, “Our population is over one crore and our mother tongue is Nepali, a language that is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as a national language.”
Replying to a question, Shrestha said, “A suitable Gorkha state may be carved from North Bengal and may comprise Darjeeling, the Dooars area and parts of
Jalpaiguri”.
The Parisangh also sought to be vested with ‘Gorkha Certification’ authority, a prerequisite for the Indian Gorkhas intending to join armed forces, police and paramilitary forces.
