Regional parties of North Bengal demand a separate state

Siliguri, Feb 7 (ANI): A group of activists of regional parties in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri regions of West Bengal came together to stage a rally demanding a separate state to be carved out from the state.

The parties which took part in this were Republican Party of India (RPI), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Kamptapuri People's Party (KPP), People's Progressive Party (PPP), and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) North Bengal committee.

According to the activists of regional groping SSDF, their main objective has been creation of a separate state of North Bengal due to the cultural dissimilarity and exploitation of the people in the area.

"Five parties have come together under the banner of SSDF. This is because the people residing in the region are being deprived from culture, language, and political, social, economical spheres. Due to this, we are demanding a separate state. The people here have a totally different language, culture and anthropological identity as compared to the people in Kolkata," said Atul Rai, Convener of SSDF.

The SSDF had sought amalgamation of six districts to form the new state and these are Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, North and South Dinajpur and Malda.

"The people of south Bengal (West Bengal) have deprived and exploited the people of north Bengal (West Bengal). They have not allowed the language and culture of this place to develop. There is nothing common between the people from south Bengal and us. They have also deprived us from job opportunities and employment. We want freedom from this rule," Kiron Kalandi, member of SSDF, a regional political organisation.

The activists of SSDF took to streets of Siliguri and marched along the highway with flags and banners and also raised slogans in demand of a separate state.

More than 3000 people participated in the rally. (ANI)