A faction of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA) underscored they wanted a separate Cooch Behar state and issued a fresh set of demands to the state and central governments on Saturday.

The faction, headed by Bangshibadan Barman, organised a public meeting at the Rashmela Ground of Cooch Behar town to commemorate the deaths of two of their supporters in police firing 20 years back during a movement.

In 2005, two GCPA supporters and three police personnel, including an additional superintendent of police, had died in the violence that had sparked in Cooch Behar during a movement by the GCPA for a separate Cooch Behar state.

“We are with the state government, but we have not joined Trinamool. The state government has approved 200 Rajbanshi-medium schools and formed a language academy and a development and cultural board for the Rajbanshis. But we have not deviated from our principal demand of a state (separate from Bengal),” Barman said at the public meeting on Saturday.

He said that the GCPA submitted a proposal to the state government to set up another 2,000 primary schools and 50 junior high schools of in Rajbanshi medium for the north Bengal region.

“We want the state to approve this proposal ahead of the Assembly polls of 2026. We need an autonomous council to expedite development in Cooch Behar. Further, we want Trinamool to leave at least 25 (of 54) Assembly seats to us. If these demands are met, we will consider whether to stand in their support,” the GCPA leader said.

For years, Barman and his supporters have backed Trinamool in north Bengal, a region where support of the Rajbanshi community decide the electoral outcome in around half of the 54 Assembly seats.

“As the 2026 elections are ahead, Bangshibadan Barman is trying to use his clout as a bargaining chip to exert pressure on Trinamool and the BJP,” said a political veteran in Cooch Behar.

At the meeting, Barman reminded people that according to the merger agreement signed in 1949 by the then royals of the princely state of Cooch Behar and the Indian government, Cooch Behar was supposed to be a ‘C’ category state.

“Instead, it was reduced to a district of Bengal. The Centre should consider the agreement and take necessary steps. We have no problem if the special intensive revision of electoral roll is conducted in Cooch Behar as we are sons of the soil,” he said.

“Ahead of the elections, we will see what decisions these parties (the BJP and Trinamool) take on issues we have flagged. Accordingly, we will decide whom to support,” Barman added.