NEW DELHI: PARISANGH CHARTS OUT PROGRAMMES, ENOS DAS PRADHAN CHOSEN NEW WORKING PRESIDENT


New Delhi:At a special meeting of its National Executive in New Delhi on March , the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh agreed on some nationwide annual programmes and also discussed important issues like Gorkhaland and the problems of the Gorkhas in the Northeast. Also putting an end to the situation arising out of the resignation of Working President CK Shrestha, Rev Dr Enos Das Pradhan was chosen to assume the position.

To bring the Gorkha community together, the Parisangh decided that besides the Balidaan Diwas it observed on August 25 to commemorate the sacrifice made by Gorkhas during the Freedom Struggle, it would also observe Urja Sanchay Diwas on the second Sunday of May as well as Gorkha Gaurav Diwas on the second Sunday of November. While one would create awareness about the need to conserve energy in the context of global warming, the other would recognise the achievement of Gorkhas, from young students to national heroes. A three-day Nepali Film Festival would be organised in New Delhi in the second weekend of January every year to showcase Nepali movies made in India. The month of March every year would be designated as a special period for recruiting new members.

Earlier, BGP President Mrs Dil Kumari Bhandari announced the assumption of the post of Working President by Rev Dr Enos Das Pradhan, till now the National Vice President of BGP. The incumbent, CK Shrestha, had resigned from the post and the National Executive held in Siliguri on January 30 and had resolved that his resignation would be deemed as accepted if he did not rescind it by the end of February.

Other important discussions revolved around the formation of a Bharatiya Gorkha Foundation as a charitable wing of the BGP. It would be run by a trust and would create a fund to assist meritorious Gorkha students in professional education and in preparing for the Public Service Commission. It would also come to the financial aid of Gorkhas who faced with dislocation due to their ethnicity. The meeting also discussed the formation of a public limited company that would run a Gorkha-centred, Nepali-language television channel. The modalities of how the Parisangh could be associated with the project was discussed by the members. A real-estate development company, whose shareholders comprise mostly Parisangh members, pledged to uphold the community’s interests in its dealings while assuring the Parisangh of financial aid as a percentage of its net profits. The meeting endorsed a donation-cum-lucky draw, with attractive prizes, to create a corpus fund. The draw would be held in December 2010 at Dehradun.

In a remarkably open and frank discussion on the issue of Gorkhaland, the meeting deliberated on various aspects of the current demand for a separate state for the Indian Gorkhas. While some expressed apprehensions about how it was not possible, due to social considerations, to open support the demand, others felt that the Parisangh should take on the role of a facilitator of discussions between various political parties involved in the movement. Yet others said that while the Parisangh as a non-political organisation could not agitate for Gorkhland, it could initiate talks with political parties in the 22 states where the Parisangh has units and encourage delegation by these parties to create an all-India pressure group. The convenor of the BGP’s Task Force on Gorkhaland reported that they had started work on creating Gorkhaland support groups among political parties and organisations in the theatre of the movement. The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh was emphatic that a separate state was a means of gaining the Gorkhas their rightful national identity and no device or agency other than a state of Gorkhland seemed likely, under present circumstances, to serve that purpose.

Various representatives from places like Nagpur, the entire Northeast, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal presented their views and suggestions.

source: Shri Barun Roy