A delegation of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (Bimal Gurung faction) today asked the BJPled central government what the party had given to the Hill people, despite the fact that the Hills had given it three successive Members of Parliament.

A seven-member delegation of the party today met Union Minister of state for Home affairs G Kishan Reddy in Delhi in a meeting called by the Centre to discuss “issues related to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration” (GTA).

As an ally of the NDA, the Morcha has now finally started bargaining with the Centre, party leaders said.

“As it was a ministerial-level meeting today, GJMM leaders did not hesitate to express their views and expectations based on the people’s sentiments in the Hills,” a member of the delegation that met the minister today said. It is learnt that Mr Reddy was “mum” and did not react when he came to know that state government representatives were absent in the meeting.

“The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) was set up in 1988 when the Congress was in power. The Nepali language was given recognition in 1992, and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was set up in 2011 when the Congress was in power at the Centre. When the Hill people under the leadership of GJMM led by Bimal Gurung has given three MPs-Jaswant Singh, SS Ahluwalia and Raju Bista–from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, what has the BJP done for the Hill people,” the Morcha team said in today’s meeting, according to one of the members of the delegation.

According to him, Home Minister Amit Shah had, during his Kalimpong trip, ensured tribal status for 11 Gorkha communities, but nothing happened. It may be noted here that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during her recent visit to Siliguri, had accused BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of giving false promises while begging for votes, but that the party di nothing for the people in this region, including the tea belt, after winning the MP seats.

Sources said today’s meeting started from the agenda of the first meeting, which had been earlier postponed, and then the “corrigendum” issued in the second letter calling for tripartite talks, which was earlier said to discuss “issues related to Gorkhaland.”

“Members of the delegation told Minister Reddy that they would start discussions on their long-pending demand for statehood and that they were not interested about discussing the GTA, which is completely defunct and presently run by the Trinamul Congress-led state government by paying no heed to the accord and the theme of the GTA–‘state within a state,’” a source said.

According to him, members of the team talked about the state government’s “illegal interference in the GTA and its purpose, which had failed to serve the Hill people.”

Notably, while different parties have been demanding that the GTA be scrapped, Miss Banerjee allotted Rs 175 crore to run the GTA very recently.

“The first tripartite meeting before the GTA was formed started with the complaint that the DGHC should be scrapped. The same process is being repeated today. We have not moved one step ahead towards statehood,” a political observer from the Hills said today.

Party insiders said that the Gurung faction of the Morcha does not bother about the absence of state representatives in meetings with the Centre. “Another meeting will be held soon after Mr Reddy briefs Union Home Minister Amit Shah abuot today’s meeting,” the member of the Morcha delegation said.

Gurung case hearings

The delegation also briefed the MoS on how the state government had slapped “false cases” against leaders and cadres of the Morcha (Gurung camp), who are still away from home and want to make a return. According to sources, hearings in several such cases are pending, mostly due to the Covid-19 situation. “Despite this, the party leadership is expecting that the next hearing on cases related to fugitive leaders Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri may be heard in the Calcutta High Court in November,” a source said.