While speaking at an election rally in West Bengal on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Gorkha group should not be concerned about the introduction of the National Register of Citizens, according to PTI.
The Union government supports the National Register of Citizens, describing it as a critical mechanism for identifying illegal migrants, particularly Bangladeshis. However, critics warn that when combined with the NRC, the Citizenship Amendment Act would empower the government to expel Muslims, effectively making them non-citizens. The government and its allies, on the other hand, have stated that the CAA and the NRC are unrelated.
On Tuesday in Darjeeling, Shah said that there are currently no plans to enforce the National Register of Citizens. According to India Today, the Union home minister said, “NRC has not yet been adopted, but when it is, not a single Gorkha will be asked to leave.” He accused the Trinamool Congress, which is in power, of instilling terror in the society.
According to PTI, Shah said that Gorkhas are the pride of the country and that no one should hurt them.
If elected to power in West Bengal, Shah vowed to grant Scheduled Tribe status to 11 castes within the Gorkha group, according to India Today.
The Union home minister also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government would resolve the “Gorkha crisis” indefinitely. He went on to say, “You won’t have to succumb to agitations any longer.”
After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared her decision to make Bengali compulsory in state-run schools, violence erupted in Darjeeling in June 2017. Despite Banerjee’s assurances that hill districts will be exempted from the law, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha launched an agitation that quickly escalated into a revival of the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
Bimal Gurung, the chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, and a few of his aides went into hiding soon after the attack, as the police lodged cases against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. After the Gurung-led contingent insisted on continuing the shutdown in the hills, which disrupted life in the area for months, the party split as well.
Last year, Gurung made a public appearance outside Kolkata’s Gorkha Bhavan. In the Assembly elections, he declared his intention to leave the National Democratic Alliance and back the Trinamool Congress.
