GUWAHATI:
Representatives of All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union (AAGSU), on September 19, staged a sit-in demonstration at Chasal here demanding Gorkha Autonomous Council (GAC) for the community living in the state since the British period.
Representatives of AGS (Assam Gorkha Sammelan), ANSS (Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha), BGP (Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha), and other Gorkha organisations also took part in the programme.
“GAC is a long pending demand of the AAGSU for safety, security and all-round development of the Gorkha community in the state,” they said.
The protestors also demanded granting Schedule Tribe (ST) status to 11 sub-tribes of the Gorkha community and the inclusion of Gorkhas as indigenous Assamese as stated in Clause six of the Assam Accord.
The student body also submitted a memorandum addressed to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Amrit Bhuyan.
Addressing a media persons, Arjun Chetry, the president of AAGSU said, “GAC is our constitutional right. We will have it at any cost. We are ready for supreme sacrifice to get our birth right from the government.”
“If the state government doesn’t act on our demand within a stipulated time, we will go for more vigorous movement in the days to come,” Chetry added.