The BJP-ruled Assam government’s decision to set up an autonomous council for its Rajbanshi community prised open many long-standing demands of the community in neighbouring Bengal.
The Assam Assembly passed three Bills to create separate autonomous councils for the Rajbanshi community, along with Moran and Matak communities, in the state. Within 24 hours, ripples of the decision in Assam were felt in Bengal, as the Rajbanshis play a crucial role in north Bengal politics.
Atul Roy, leader of the Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) said: “We have congratulated our leaders in Assam. It is too early to say what the Bengal government will do about our demands. But our movement will continue till we are given our constitutional rights like the right of mother tongue.”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has formed a Rajbanshi development and cultural board and a Rajbanshi Bhasha academy. These steps did help the Trinamul please a section in the community, but others wanted more. The disgruntled section played a major role in the BJP’s growth in north Bengal.
Bangshibadan Barman, a prominent Rajbanshi leader, told The Telegraph that the state government should consider making an autonomous council in Bengal for the development of the community.
Nikhil Roy, president of the other faction of KPP said that they would start their statehood movement afresh as the academy and boards set up by the state government failed to meet their expectations.
“An autonomous council is much more powerful than any board or academy as the council gets fund allotment and it has the power to create jobs... It’s natural that the Rajbanshi community would now press for a council here,”said a political analyst.
Minister-in-charge of north Bengal development Rabindranath Ghosh said the government was against the idea of division of the state before iterating that Nabanna was committed to the development of the community. “We formed Bhasha Academy, Development boards for Rajbanshi and Kamtapuri people. A university has been set up in Cooch Behar in the name of the scholar of Rajbanshi community Panchanan Barma,” he said.
