Like Gorkhas, Rajbongshis unite in the plains for statehood

Two factions join hand-in-hand for a separate Kamtapur state

HM Correspondent

Jalpaiguri August 13: After the Gorkhas in the hills, now the Rajbongshis are set to give a fresh headache for the Mamata Bannerjee government. Buoyed by the historic development in the hills where political entities irrespective of their colour who joined hand in hand with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to fight the last battle for separate Gorkhaland, the Rajbongshis in North Bengal on Tuesday Joined hands to launch a fresh movement for separate Kamtapur state.  

Two outfits of the Rajbongshis- the Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) and the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP) lead by none other than Nikhil Roy and Atul Roy respectively is said to have joined hands in a meeting held at Myanaguri in the Jalpaiguri district. Both the entities had been on the lower side since their movement was crushed in 2003. Sources said that the morale of the Rajbongshis have been spruced up after the two groups joined hands.

The move that resembles the step taken in the hills is now being seen which could trigger fresh trouble in the region.  “We decided to come together because the people wanted us to do that. While demanding a separate state, we cannot ignore the sentiment of the sons of the soil. Now that we have come together our movement will be much stronger,” said Nikhil Roy.

It may be recalled that in the early nineties it was a similar movement launched by the Kamtapur People’s Party which latter gave birth to KLO. After that North Bengal witnessed a series of violent incidents until the KLO camps in Bhutan were dismantled in an offensive and most of the KLO leaders were nabbed by the army. 

The amalgamation of the two Rajbongshis outfits has come as a big cause of worry for the security agencies. With reports that the KLO is reorganizing itself, sleuths believe that a fresh movement for Kamtapur might drive Rajbongshi youths to join the insurgent outfit.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation. We have to make sure that things do not go out of our control at any point of time,” a senior police official said.

Meanwhile  in a similar way in Cooch Behar the three factions of the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Party have come together to float a fresh movement for a separate Cooch Behar state. The party had got split into three groups after Bangshi Badan Burman; the secretary of the outfit was arrested and put behind the bars. The development on Telangana and the GJM movement after that helped the leaders come together under a single banner.