Nepal keeps off Gorkha stir It’s India’s internal matter, says PM

Nepal keeps off Gorkha stir

It’s India’s internal matter, says PM

New Delhi : 28 June : Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba says the Gorkhaland agitation in neighbouring Darjeeling hills is India’s internal matter. He believes that Indian can and should resolve it.

The Nepali Prime Minister was talking recently to a delegation of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists, led by its President Mr. K. Vikram Rao, in his Kathmandu office. Mr. Deuba’s comments come in the wake of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung seeking wider support on ethnic grounds for his demand for separate state for the Gorkhas. He has already secured the support of Mr. Pawan Chamling, chief minister adjoining Sikkim state since 1994. Chamling, known as the “greenest chief minister of India’s, for his planned development of the hill State, favours Gorkhaland.

The Nepali prime minister kept a distance when the IFWJ president K. Vikram Rao asked him if on ethnic grounds he would support the Gorkhas in West Bengal . The Nepali media had been wildly playing up the Gorkhaland agitation.

The IFWJ delegation comprising 120 journalists from different states of India, including Telengana and Jharkhand, met members of the Federation of Nepali Journalists. It visited Pokhra hills, Manokamana and holy Lumbini, Buddha’s birthplace.

The Nepali Prime Minister told an IFWJ questioner that he would welcome any move by chief minister Yogi Adityanath of the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh to initiate preventive measures to save east U.P. districts of from floods as the monsoon advances next month. Many rivers, originating in south-west Nepal frequently inundate U.P., including chief minister Yogi’s district of Gorakhpur. Mr. Deuba also referred to the need for developing closer limits between the holy pilgrim centres of Tripathi and Pashupatinath. More facilities for pilgrims could be provided jointly.

Asked about the political situation in the Himalayan republic Mr. Deuba pointed to the smooth change in government. Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachand had given up prime minister’s post a fortnight ago for Mr. Deuba to take over, according to the agreement between the Nepali Congress and the Maoists. The coalition government of the two major political parties was of considerable significance. The prime minister wanted the Indian media to be more sensitive towards the Indo-Nepal relations.

Asked about women’s status in Nepal. Mr. Deuba said that already one third elective seats in parliament and local bodies were reserved for women. “One of the two posts Mayor or Deputy Mayor has to go to woman,” he said. The president of Nepal is Mrs. Bidya Devi Bhandari.

By:

(Santosh Chaturvedi)

Secretary(North) : IFWJ, New Delhi