Mungpoo, 14th April: MP Raju Bista accompanied by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate BP Bajgain from the Kurseong assembly constituency, party leaders, activists and all alliance party joined for campaigning for the upcoming elections at Mungpoo, on Wednesday.
Later in a statement released by MP Bista, he said voting for either GJM1 or GJM2 would directly or indirectly be equivalent to voting for Mamata Banerjee and TMC. The same TMC which has ruined the hills, the same TMC that murdered innocent people, the same TMC that has “unleashed a reign of terror” in the hills and is hell-bent on destroying the unity among Gorkhas. TMC has tried to divide the community by introducing “caste-based Development Board,” and innumerable youths from the hills have become a victim of the police atrocities and fake charges filed against by TMC and their agents. He appealed to the people to rise above narrow party lines and vote out TMC or anyone associating with them, who have done everything to jeopardize the future of the Gorkha community and the hills.
The statement further said that there was a time when Mungpoo along with Munsong, Rongo, and Sitong-Latpanchar was one of the most financially secure regions in the Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars region. The Cinchona Plantations provided enough employment opportunities for the people and guaranteed their financial security and economic wellbeing. However, over the years, absolute apathy and neglect, earlier by the CPIM government and for the past 10-years by the TMC government has brought the Cinchona gardens on the verge of shutting down. “Instead of accepting their (TMC) failure and working towards finding alternative uses for the Cinchona plantations and their highly trained workers, the TMC and their minions are lying and spreading rumors that if BJP comes to power, BJP will privatize Cinchona gardens,” the MP’s statement added.
The statement further stated that the MP following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blueprintAtmanirbhar Bharat”, the party is preparing a blue print to transform Cinchona Plantationintoo a Medicinal Plant Hub. “Once BJP government is formed in Bengal, we will not only seek to not save the Cinchona gardens, but our endeavour will be to fill it with new energy and vigour, so that we can create opportunities for thousands of our youths to be employed here,” it stated.
MP Bista told the people that BJP does not make election promises, but rather commits after careful thought and consideration and will work towards fulfilling all commitments as soon as the BJP government is formed in Bengal.
In the said meeting, Bista spoke on the party’s commitment to guaranteeing land rights of the Cinchona garden and tea garden workers, and also increasing their daily wages to Rs 350 per day.
MP Bista urged the people to ensure that all three seats in the hills are won by BJP candidates as doing so will strengthen the party’s collective voice. He promised to wipe out the discrimination in the state. Bista claimed that with the warmth and love received from the people of Mungpoo, he is confident that this time the people across Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars are determined to “uproot the corrupt, tyrannical, and dictatorial TMC from the region.”
