Telangana fall-out: Gorkhaland demand resurfaces

Kolkata: With passage of the Telangana Bill in the Lok Sabha today, the GJM demanding Gorkhaland, today urged the Center to take an unilateral decision to create a separate state, despite objection from West Bengal. “We would now request the Centre to similarly consider the just and fair demand for separate state of Gorkhaland, which is amongst the oldest in the country,” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supremo Bimal Gurung said in a Facebook post. [caption id=“attachment_1396929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Protesters demand a separate Gorkhaland. AFP.[/caption] “Today’s passage of the Telengana Bill makes it clear that state consent is not necessary for its bifurcation, a fact which we have been reiterating for a long time,” he said. Gurung said that the passage of the Telengana Bill proved that those opposing creation of smaller states wrongly argued that such consent from the state assembly was required. “We, are, confident that the Centre will sooner than later respect the sentiments of the Gorkhaland area and will take an unilateral decision on creating Gorkhaland despite protest from the rest of Bengal,” he said. The GJM chief said that creation of a separate Gorkhaland state on the lines of Telengana would fulfil the long-standing demand of the people of Darjeeling, Dooars and surrounding Terai regions and ‘bring justice to the Indian Gorkhas’. Gurung congratulated the people of Telangana for the passage of the Bill and also the Congress and BJP for respecting sentiments of the people of Telengana people and for supporting it. PTI