Morcha ups ante for Gorkhas

 Bimal Gurung, 

TT; VIVEK CHHETRI Darjeeling, March 6: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today appealed to the President to raise an army regiment exclusively made up of Gorkha recruits from India and empower the GTA Sabha to issue Gorkha certificates to all members of the community from across the country. A three-member Morcha delegation that met Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi raised the demands.

 The team comprised Morcha president Bimal Gurung, general secretary Roshan Giri and Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan. The demands are an indication that the Morcha wants to make the GTA a powerful body vis-à-vis the Gorkhas of India and boost its image as a party concerned about the interests of the entire community in the country.

Pranab Mukherjee

 “Apart from reiterating the demands made before Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde yesterday, we requested the President to set up a separate Gorkha regiment that comprises recruits from only India. We have also told the President that the GTA should be given the power to issue Gorkha certificates to all the Gorkhas residing in India,” Giri said over the phone from Delhi. The British had set up 10 Gorkha regiments but after Independence, they took with them four units.

 The Indian Army were left with 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 Gorkha Regiments. The Indian government raised another unit (the 11 Gorkha Regiment) in the 1950s. But all the Indian Gorkha regiments recruited members of the community from Nepal as well as India. In fact, 70 per cent of the recruits to the Gorkha regiments at the moment are Nepal nationals.

 The rest of the personnel are Gorkhas from India — from the Darjeeling hills, Northeast and Uttarakhand. The Morcha now wants a new regiment dedicated solely to the Gorkhas from India. The need for the Gorkha certificates is also related to the recruitment of the Gorkhas into the army as well as paramilitary and police forces.

 This is because the Gorkhas are given relaxation in terms of height, weight and chest measurements during recruitment drives. To avail themselves of the relaxation, the Gorkhas must produce documents that certify that they are members of the community living in India. At the moment, the Gorkha certificates are issued by the subdivisional officer and the GTA has no role.