The Kamtapur State Demand Council (KSDC) reasserted its demands for Kamtapur state and constitutional recognition of the Kamtapuri (Rajbanshi) language, by including another association as a member on Wednesday.
Representatives of the council said the Indian Natives' Association had been included as yet another constituent of the KSDC. With this, the council has 35 members.
The KSDC also stressed a peace accord with both factions of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).
“In January 2023, the Centre called Jibon Singha (the self-styled chief of KLO) and initiated peace talks with him. The KSDC also participated in the talks, and we want the Centre to sign a peace accord with Jibon Singha and expedite the process of meeting our demand for a separate Kamtapur state or Greater Cooch Behar state,” said Jyotish Binod Roy, an assistant secretary of the central executive committee of the KSDC.
“Along with a separate state, we want the Centre to meet another longstanding demand of ours, that is, inclusion of the Kamtapuri (Rajbanshi) language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution,” he said.
He said that all 35 constituent associations of the KSDC, including the one inducted on Wednesday, were in consensus on these demands.
“We want all other like-minded associations raising the same demands to join the KSDC, which is a common platform. A joint, collaborative approach will help us achieve our demands from the Centre,” said Roy.
Representatives of the Indian Natives' Association, with its head office at Deocharai village in Cooch Behar, reasserted that the Centre should create a new state according to the merger agreement signed by then royals of Cooch Behar and the Indian government in 1949.
“We have been working since 2011 and want a defence academy in the name of Chila Roy,” said Jannatul Haque Mondal, the president of the association.
Sukladhawaj, a prince of the Cooch Behar royal family, who was also known as Chila Roy, was known as the fiercest warrior of the family.
“The KSDC has recognised our demands. We support the demands raised by them and thus, joined the KSDC as a constituent organisation on Wednesday,” he added.
