Gorkhaland agitation fuels demand for other new states

The renewed protest for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal has spurred various organisations to press for their old demand of bifurcation of other states— a separate Vidarbha, Bodoland, Tripura-land and Purvanchal top the list.

The National Federation for New States (NFNS) recently extended its solidarity for the creation of Gork- haland, besides supporting the creation of new, smaller states in India.

“The problems in Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Bundelkhand or Bodoland, Tripura land and Purvanchal have only one solution. And that is the creation of these states. The buck stops at the ruling party’s doorstep,” the NFNS said.

The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) along with several other Bodoland organisations had held a massive rally in some districts of Assam last month pressing for their demand for a separate state of Bodoland to be carved out of Assam.

ABSU leader, Pramod Boro, told The Sunday Guardian that the government should respect the identity of the linguistic minorities of the country and their long standing demands should be met.

“Since Independence Government of India has created one dozen new states, most recently Telangana. So what stops them from creating Bodoland? We support the demand for Gorkhaland because we understand the pain of living in a region that is not your own. They (Gorkhas) are totally different and have a culture, language and tradition that are different from that of the Bengalis. We Bodos are also different in our language, culture and traditions and the government must respect the identities of such minority groups in the country. We want to protect our identity and our culture,” Boro said.