KOLKATA: There is no plan to implement the NRC for now and it will have no impact on Gorkhas even if it is brought in the future, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday. Shah also assured that all cases registered against the Gorkhas during their movement demanding statehood would be withdrawn once the BJP comes to power in West Bengal.
At a rally in Kalimpong, Shah hit out at the Trinamool Congress for “creating fear’’ among the people of Darjeeling on the issue of the NRC by misleading them. “The TMC is misleading the people citing the NRC which has not been implemented yet. It is lying about the possible fallout of the NRC on the Gorkhas to create fear among them. There is no plan to implement the NRC now. Whenever it is done, not a single Gorkha will be asked to leave,’’ he assured the poll rally.
The Congress-Communists-TMC combination did injustice to Gorkhas across the country for years, he asserted. “Gorkhas have a very rich history. Whenever the names of patriotic communities are taken,
the names of Gorkhas are taken proudly.”
The Communists had set the Darjeeling hills on fire in 1986 in which more than 1,200 Gorkhas were killed, he said. “Didi (Mamata) did nothing less. During her tenure, many people were killed and FIR lodged against thousands. Didi has withdrawn FIRs selectively. After the BJP-led government is formed in Bengal, all such FIRs will be withdrawn within a week,’’ he told the rally.
Shah also promised to ensure the status of scheduled tribe to 11 Gorkha ethnic groups if the BJP is elected to power. Apart from being the deciding factor in the three hill seats of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, the Gorkha community has a considerable presence in some of the seats in north Bengal’s Dooars.