Kalimpong, April 16:

Shri Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, called the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh to his office at the party national headquarters in New Delhi and informed them that he had acted on the demand made by Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh for action against Himachal Pradesh BJP MLA who had made derogatory remarks made against the Gorkhas and Nagas on the floor of the state Legislative Assembly.

 “I personally spoke to Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti and MLA Ravinder Ravi and ordered them to call a press conference to withdraw the offensive remarks against the Gorkhas,” he told BGP’s Guman Navin Limbu, Joel Rai and Munish Tamang in New Delhi on Monday.

The BJP President also handed over a copy of the fax, in which the Himachal MLA explained his remarks and informed the BJP central leadership that he had called a press conference as directed and had indeed apologised for what he had said.

“Please let all the Gorkhas know that the BJP took the case very seriously,” Rajnath Singh requested the Parisangh.

Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh was the first Gorkha organisation to protest on April 6, a day after Shri Ravinder Ravi said on the floor of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly that the monkey and dog menace in Himachal could be solved by posting the Gorkha and Naga regiments because they ate dogs and monkeys.  

Shri Ravinder Ravi claimed in his fax that his detractors had allegedly twisted his words. However, he had called a press conference in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, on Saturday to apologise to the Gorkha community, and had also talked with Gorkhas of Himachal Pradesh to assuage their feelings. The media in the state ran reports the following day with a big headline saying, “Ravinder Ravi nay Gorkha Samudai say Magi Maafi”.

 Shri Rajnath Singh said he and his party respected the Gorkhas and would always support them. The Parisangh delegation also told the BJP President that it was unfortunate that the Gorkhas should have been insulted like this when Darjeeling was represented in Parliament by a BJP MP, Shri Jaswant Singh.

BJP National General Secretary Tapir Gao also told the Parisangh members that his party regretted the unfortunate remarks made by Shri Ravinder Ravi. He said the truth was that the BJP was not against the Gorkhas. That is the reason why the party did not support the Himachal MLA’s views and had taken strong action to have Shri Ravi retract his remarks.

Gao told the BGP members that it was the BJP that would eventually grant the Gorkhas statehood. “All senior leaders in the party understand why the Gorkhas need a state of their own. We will be the party that will create a Gorkha state when we come to power,” he said.

The BJP general secretary also said he would advise all political parties of the Darjeeling and Dooars to set aside their differences as far as a separate state was concerned and be united for that one agenda. When informed that the Bhartiya Gorkha Parisangh had created the platform of the Gorkhaland Task Force to bring together all those who wanted to fight for a separate state, he said, “The political parties can fight their own battles, but when the issue of separate state is concerned, they should all come on a united platform.”