Gorkha Parisangh for separate state in India

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.