New Political Party Emerges in North Bengal: Advocating for Separate Statehood

A new political party has surfaced ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, focusing primarily on the long-standing demand for a state in north Bengal.

After obtaining registration from the Election Commission of India in January, the Bhumiputra United Party has chosen to run candidates for each of the eight north Bengali Parliament seats, claiming to speak for the region's varied ethnicities.


"We have included the term 'Bhumiputra' in our party's name to demonstrate that it is a political entity that stands for the descendants of this land. The party's president, Mohammad Sarwardi, who is from Itahar in North Dinajpur, stated, "We have people from various communities and want to strive to fulfil our longstanding demand of a separate north Bengal state which can only expedite the development of this region and the people living here."

He claims that the party has members from the Lepcha, Namasudra, Muslim, non-Rajbanshi, tribal, and Rajbanshi populations.

"North Bengal's socioeconomic development has not benefited from the efforts of any well-known political party." Some have turned to handout politics, while others have made vacuous pledges to abide with our requests. Thousands of individuals from north Bengal have become migrant laborers due to economic backwardness. Ramesh Chandra Singha, the general secretary of the party and a native of Karandighi in North Dinajpur, said, "We have received registration from the ECI and will field candidates in all eight Lok Sabha seats."

The Bhumiputra United Party's state leader, Anowar Hossain, said that the group would gather in Mathabhanga on Sunday.

"We have established a central secretariat with 31 members and a central committee with 115 members. We shall establish district committees in Mathabhanga. We will field candidates from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and general groups in the Lok Sabha elections, according to Hossain, a Cooch Behar resident.

A number of new regional parties appeared in the hills a few years ago, causing political fragmentation in the area.

Nevertheless, no new political party has emerged in north Bengal in recent years. According to the new party, its delegates come from several groups whose votes count for various Lok Sabha seats in the area. A political observer said, "We have to wait and see whether the party's participation would affect the polls in any way.

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