Bimal Gurung of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha with his 150 leaders are in New Delhi marking protests for Gorkhaland, a seperate state of the Darjeeling Hills for the Gorkhas.
Prime Minister Modi during his election campaign had addressed in Darjeeling that he would “sympathetically consider” the demand for a Gorkhaland. With this assurance Gorkha Jana Mukti had supported BJP canditate Mr S.S. Ahluwalia who now is the MP form Darjeeling.
As per the assurance and coperation the Gorkhas now want a dialouge with the Central Government.

The Gorkhaland movement was long started in the mid 80s by Subash Ghising. A bloody agitation took place with many loss of lives and many homeless. Unfortunately nothing much materliased with Late Ghising compromising with a mere Gorkha Hill Council which now under Gurung’s regime is known as Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

The Darjeeling Hills which is the center spot for tourists and also renowned for Darjeeling Tea and the prestigious English Schools that was established during the British era. After from hefty revenues generated West Bengal has done the least for the development of the Darjeeling Hills. As a result unemployment, lack of proper infrastructre is eveident with the poor roads, electricity and Hospital conditions. The people of hills demand an equal right as citizens of India.
The local parties of the hills have now realized the protests within the hills will not result to any concrete results therefore Jantar Mantar in New Delhi is the appropriate venue for protests. A lot of public sympathy from the public is also expected to build pressure on the central Government.

BJP has always been in favour of smaller states and was also advocated by Pratap Rudy in the past. Now it is be seen how this favour is reciprocated by the Central Government.

MUMBAI: The unexpected BJP-Shiv Sena rapprochement has set off alarm bells within the NCP, with leaders facing serious corruption charges fearing CM Devendra Fadnavis will not hesitate to grant permission to the Anti-Corruption Bureau to start probes against them.

“Indeed, alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena is a bad development for the NCP. All proposals pertaining to open probe against NCP leaders are pending on Fadnavis’ table. We will not be surprised if the CM clears all the proposals,” a senior NCP leader said.
The ACB has sought permission for “open inquiry” against then irrigation ministers Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare for their dubious role in granting contracts for major irrigation projects in the Konkan region, against then PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal for irregularities in construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and redevelopment of Bandra colony on the state government land, and Harshvardhan Patil for cooperative bank irregularities.
The NCP believed that in view of the sharp differences between BJP and Sena, they will never form the government together and it could maintain an upper hand in state politics by being a deciding factor as long as the BJP remained a minority government. “Then our aim was to marginalize the Shiv Sena, which had secured 63 seats against 42 won by Congress and 41 by the NCP,” the leader said.
So, the party extended unconditional support even before the BJP had staked claim to power after the elections. Subsequently, during the election of the speaker and voting on the confidence motion, NCP acted in a way that would benefit the BJP. But its strategy has failed, and the Sena is steps away from joining the government.

The NCP, however, has put up a brave front. Not only Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal, but even Sharad Pawar has said on several occasions that NCP leaders were prepared for any probe. “Don’t give us just warnings. If the government is serious, it should complete the probe as early as possible,” Ajit Pawar recently said in Pune

In the first display of opposition unity against the Modi government, leaders of 14 political parties led by Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday marched from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan against amendments to the land acquisition act and pledged to continue their “do or die” battle.
A delegation of 26 leaders including former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda met President Pranab Mukherjee and urged him to protect the farmers’ interests by impressing upon the Modi government “not to go ahead with the amendments in the Rajya Sabha” saying they were aimed at promoting “divisions and social disharmony”.

This is the first time opposition parties have come together in such large numbers against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government since the Lok Sabha election defeat last year.
“We have come together to oppose the Narendra Modi government’s amendments to the right of fair compensation and transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation resettlement Act 2013.

“All the progressive, secular, democratic and forward looking forces are determined to defeat the Modi government’s design to promote divisions and social disharmony.

“We have come to the President to request him to intervene to protect the interest of our farmers and to impress upon Modi government not to go ahead with the amendments in the Rajya Sabha. These are some of the reasons for which we have come here,” Gandhi told the media after the delegation met the President.
Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, coordinator for the march, declared that it will be a fight to finish as the bill “is not only anti-farmer but also anti India”.

Earlier, over 100 Opposition MPs belonging to major political parties including JD-U, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist, Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Indian National Lok Dal marched a distance of one km over the Raisina Hill to the Presidential Estate.
Earlier Delhi police objected to the march citing imposition of regulatory orders in the area but later relented when the leaders insisted on the march.
The land acquisition law, the brain child of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council during the United Progressive Alliance regime had stringent provisions against acquisition of farmers’ land.

But the Modi government has amended some of the provisions to ease acquisition of land for industrialisation through an ordinance. The government is facing problems in ensuring its passage in Rajya Sabha where it does not have the numbers.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Ramgopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI-M, D Raja of the CPI, Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool, Kanimozhi of the DMK were among the leaders, who met the President.

Earlier during the march, the leaders shouted anti-government slogans resolving to continue their opposition till the Modi government drops changes in the 2013 bill.

In the memorandum, the party said the amendments to the ordinance have been approved by the Lok Sabha because the BJP has a majority there.

They now await consideration of the Rajya Sabha but the amendments should have been first considered by the Standing Committee.

“That did not happen since the Modi sarkar is intent on destroying the institutions of Standing Committees and Select Committees itself,” the leaders said.

The memorandum said that the amendments do away with pre-notification social impact assessment (SIA), which is an essential safeguard to prevent diversion of acquired land, to prevent acquisition of excess land and to ensure that acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land would only be a demonstrable last resort, if at all.

The SIA to be carried out in no more than six months would also identify livelihood losers entitled to compensation and relief and rehabilitation benefits, it said.
PTI