Darjeeling: Sixty-five years in the making, the country is now one step closer to getting a new state of Telangana. The Congress Working Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution for the creation of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as a joint capital for 10 years.
The question now is whether the Congress's decision on Telangana have a snowball effect considering that there are movements in other parts of India for separate states as well. The biggest among them is the demand for a Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal.
With the government giving the approval for the formation of Telangana, the demand for Gorkhaland has renewed. Gorkhaland activists are holding a 72-hour bandh during which angry street protests were witnessed in the region on Tuesday.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Chief Bimal Gurung has resigned as the head of the Gorkha territorial administration. The Morcha will be calling for an indefinite bandh in the hills from Saturday onwards. "I am resigning from the post of the chairman of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration because it wasn't allowed to fuction properly and there was a lot of government interference," Gurung said.
Targeting the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee again alleged it was trying to interfere in the affairs of the state through its agencies and reiterated that there was a conspiracy to dismiss her government, which was running well.
She wrote on her Facebook page, "Telangana cannot be compared with Darjeeling. When everything is settled, why Delhi is insisting to disrupt peaceful situation and play with fire? It is reported that Delhi has directed the GTA persons to go in for a separatist movement. Darjeeling is a part and parcel of our state. We are united and we will remain united. Any conspiracy hatched by a political party and Union Government will be defeated by the people of Darjeeling and West Bengal."
Meanwhile, there is also the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha from Maharashtra. There is also a call for splitting a part of Uttar Pradesh into Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand. There are other movements, too, such as the demand for a Kodagu from Karnataka.
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