Jalpaiguri: All Kamtapur Students Union's ire against BJP-led Centre in rail roko
Telegraph | 20 January 2024
The All Kamtapur Students Union (AKSU), a youth forum of Rajbanshis, which seeks a new Kamtapur state, staged a rail roko in Jalpaiguri district on Friday and aired its grievances against the BJP-led Centre for no headway on this issue.
Leaders of the forum, believed to have considerable clout among the Rajbanshi population in north Bengal, demanded that the Narendra Modi government initiate peace talks with Jibon Singha, the self-styled chief of proscribed terror outfit Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), and come to a decision on their principal demand.
The blockade disrupted railway services across north Bengal. The Vande Bharat Express that had departed for Guwahati from New Jalpaiguri got delayed for around three hours.
Also, several long-distance trains were stopped at different stations as hundreds of AKSU supporters walked on tracks near the Jaldhaka rail bridge between New Mainaguri to Dhupguri stations, the principal rail route which connects the Northeast with the rest of the country, with placards and banners.
Kaushik Barman, the president of the AKSU, said Singha reached Assam almost a year back as he was assured by the Centre and the BJP government of Assam that they would sit for peace talks to decide on the demand for Kamtapur state.
“Nothing happened since January last year. We are fed up with the hollow promises of the BJP and want to clarify that if the Centre doesn’t make any move by next month, we will intensify our movement,” he said.
As hundreds of passengers travelling in 11 long-distance trains coped with the inconvenience, the blockade continued. The demonstrators shouted anti-Centre slogans and accused the BJP of drawing votes by making false promises.
“The BJP did nothing for the Rajbanshis and for north Bengal as a whole. They gave lengthy assurances to consider our longstanding demand only to draw votes. Such empty promises will not work this time,” Barman added.
The blockade, which begun at 7am and was supposed to last till 7pm, however, was cut short at 10am as officials of the Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spoke with protesters at the spot. Teams of the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police reached there.
“We are withdrawing the blockade as railway officials assured us that they will forward our demand to relevant quarters,” said the AKSU president.
Around 10.15am, trains resumed on the route.
Sabyasachi De, the NFR chief public relations officer, said they had registered a case against protesters.
Contacted, Jayanta Roy, the BJP MP of Jalpaiguri, said: “As far as the demand for recognition of Kamtapuri language is concerned, these outfits have been told it is under the consideration of the Centre. I cannot comment on their demand for a state."
The blockade, a political observer said, indicated grievances brewing north Bengal against the BJP. Although the BJP-led Centre has sanctioned funds for major infrastructure projects in north Bengal, it has not met some old demands, he said.