KOLKATA: Absconding Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung on Friday alleged that suspected Rohingya refugees were being settled in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal as a conspiracy to cause demographic imbalance and render Gorkhas and other native communities homeless.
In a press release, Gurung alleged that the suspected Rohingyas were being deliberately pushed into the hills despite the Centre identifying them as a security threat. “Rohingyas are being pushed into our region with the intention of diluting the existing Gorkha, Adivasi, Rajbongshi and Indian Bengali population. It
seems like sinister plans are afoot to further marginalise the original inhabitants of these lands and render us homeless,” he said.
He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take cognisance of the developments in the region and take necessary steps to put an end to ‘sinister designs’.
“Certain political elements are allowing them to settle here for vote bank politics and allowing politics of votes to supersede national interests. I request everyone living in our region to remain vigilant and report all such suspicious settlements that may be coming up near you,” he added.
The GJM leader also espoused the gravity of the situation by pointing out that the Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars touch international boundaries of Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Tibet and is a geopolitically sensitive region that connects Northeast region with rest of the country.