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SILIGURI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged all top political parties in the hills of north Bengal to work together for the development of the region, while also accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of deceiving people, without naming it.
Touring Darjeeling from Sunday evening, Banerjee said in her address at a programme in Chowrasta, “Promise me that in the next 10 years you will not fight and will only work for development. First people and then political parties.”
Her statement assumes political significance as the region is likely to see elections for the semi-autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) around June this year.
The GTA election was due in 2017, but is being run either by unelected people or senior bureaucrats since then.
The hills in 2017 witnessed a 104-day-long general strike demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland. But the state government successfully managed to quell it.
Eager to make inroads in the hilly swathes where it won the local Lok Sabha seat thrice in a row since 2009 with support from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), the BJP said in its poll manifesto for the 2019 general elections that it will find a permanent political solution for the region. However, the hill parties alleged that the BJP has not done anything to fulfill its promise.
Incidentally, the BJP also won from the Darjeeling and Kurseong seats in the 2021 assembly elections.
Before the state polls last year, Banerjee announced that she will find a permanent political solution without the Centre’s help.
The Darjeeling hills, which have been fighting for a separate state since 1986, saw the division of the GJM, which spearheaded the second phase of the ‘Gorkhaland’ movement in 2007.
The party was again unsuccessful in its fight for Gorkhaland in 2017 and has now become weak. The outfit split in 2017, with Anit Thapa and Binoy Tamang forming another faction.
Now, Thapa has formed another party – Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) –and Tamang has joined the ruling Trinamool Congress. Founder Bimal Gurung continues to lead the GJM, but his grassroots support base has eroded substantially over the years.
Harmo Party, formed three months back, won the Darjeeling municipal elections held recently and has emerged as a force to reckon with before the GTA election.
Though Gurung and Thapa have very close understanding with the TMC, and have their own compulsions to be in the chief minister’s good books, Hamro Party leader Ajoy Edwards has made it clear that it wants to have a cordial relationship with the state government, but will walk independently.
On Tuesday, Banerjee, without naming the BJP said, “One political party is hoodwinking people and has gone away after getting votes. This is why you don’t need Delhi and Delhi ka laddoo…you need laddoo of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.”
Stating that violence and unrest will not yield any outcome, she said, “All hotels in Darjeeling are full and there are no rooms till June. Such a situation comes when normalcy is restored and when you smile… I will hold the GTA elections at the earliest. I want elected representatives to work properly.”
Sources said the state government wants the GJM, the BGPM and the TMC to contest the GTA elections as an alliance.
Though the BGPM has welcomed the GTA election, the GJM has asked the state government to find a permanent political solution before the polls.
However, the chief minister refrained from mentioning any ‘permanent political solution’.
Banerjee is visiting Darjeeling after two years.
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