Kurseong, 30th March: The controversial statement made by the National General Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Kailash Vijayvargiya on Monday has sparked outrage across the hills.
It is to recall, on Monday, the BJP leader was accompanying the party’s Kurseong assembly candidate B. P. Bajgain along with the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) supporters in a foot march before filing the nomination papers. While addressing the media, Kailash Vijayvargiya said that the state government jointly with the central government “will resolve issues relating to Nepal’s 11 communities.”
This immediately triggered the people of the Gorkha community who already are battling an identity crisis with regard to their Indian citizenship. Various posters condemning the statement of the BJP leader were slapped on the walls across the region since this morning.
Likewise, hours after the unfortunate incident, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binay Tamang released a statement strongly condemning Kailash Vijayvargiya’s comment and referred to it as an insult to all the Gorkha community of India.
“The BJP party has insulted the Gorkhas in their homeland by calling us from Nepal.
Today in Kurseong, Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of BJP, said we are from Nepal in front of the BJP Candidate of Kurseong, Shri BP Bagjai and Darjeeling Dist. leader Shri Manoj Dewan.
The BJP to date hasn’t given anything to the Gorkha community and but this remark has only added yet another insult to the Gorkha community from the BJP.
Shri S. S. Ahluwalia, former BJP MP from Darjeeling also referred to our Gorkha community as people from Nepal.
We want to reiterate to the BJP that we are sincere to our nation and that our Gorkha soldiers have laid down their lives for our country.
We demand an unconditional apology from Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya for the insult he has brought to the Gorkha community by calling us from Nepal.
Today in Kurseong, Shri Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of BJP, said we are from Nepal in front of the BJP Candidate of Kurseong, Shri BP Bagjai and Darjeeling Dist. leader Shri Manoj Dewan,” Tamang’s statement read.