20,000 in Cooch Behar rally for Kamtapur state

– On Monday, two outfits — a faction of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA) and the Kamtapur State Demand Council (KSDC) — organised a march in Cooch Behar town

Cooch Behar: Some Rajbanshi outfits which are proponents of the Greater Cooch Behar or the Kamtapur state have again started intensifying agitations for their longstanding demand.

On Monday, two outfits — a faction of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA) and the Kamtapur State Demand Council (KSDC) — organised a march in Cooch Behar town.

Over 20,000 people walked in the rally that reached the district magistrate’s office where they submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India.

“We want the central government to initiate peace talks with Jibon Singha and work on our demand for a separate state. We have sent a memorandum to the President (Droupadi Murmu), seeking her intervention on the issue,” said Tapati Roy Mallick, the president of KSDC.

Singha, the self-styled chief of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, a militant outfit proscribed by the Union home ministry, has been in BJP-ruled Assam since January 2023. He had reportedly responded to a call made by the Centre and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who had proposed peace talks with him. However, not much headway has been made since then.

Because of the rally, Cooch Behar residents had to face traffic snarls on Monday. Some marchers carried placards and posters with Singha’s photograph.

“If the central government continues to ignore our demand, we will intensify our movement,” Mallick added.

The GCPA and KSDC leaders also pointed out that in September this year, the Centre signed a peace accord with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).

“We want a similar peace accord to be signed with the KLO. The Centre should also accept our demand to give constitutional recognition to the Rajbanshi (Kamtapuri) language,” said one of them.

The rally apart, Bangshibadan Barman, who heads another faction of the GCPA, announced an “indefinite rail roko” at Jorai, a railway station at the Bengal-Assam border, from December 11.

“We will reach Jorai on Tuesday and organise some religious rituals. We will spend the night there and from Wednesday morning, we will not let any train pass through the station until our demands for a separate state and recognition of the Rajbanshi language are met,” said Barman.

Jorai station is located along the principal rail route that connects the entire Northeast with north Bengal and the rest of the country.

In February 2016, Barman and his supporters held a similar blockade on the rail tracks at the New Cooch Behar station. This blockade had jeopardised train movement between the Northeast and the rest of India for around three days.