If not exactly forward movement quite yet, the willingness of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Yuva Morcha to call off its indefinite hunger-strike in deference to the appeal of Union home minister Rajnath Singh can be deemed as a partial effort towards a mending of fences ever since the shutdown in Darjeeling crippled the Hills two months ago.

It is fervently to be hoped that the GJMM, in the wider perspective, will also be a party to this essay towards attempted reconciliation amidst the morcha’s frosty equation with the state government. This is still more essential as the beleaguered district administration grapples with the landslides and the inability to initiate relief and rescue operations because of the general strike.

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There can be no two opinions on the imperative to call off the agitprop. The Chief Minister is agreeable to conduct negotiations; so too must the likes of Bimal Gurung. The nub of the matter is that talks cannot be held in the midst of a shutdown and the resultant paralysis since the second week of June.

The home minister has been deft in his interaction with the GJMM delegation, lobbing the ball as it were onto the state’s court. He has attempted a delicate balancing act though he cannot be unaware that statehood is an issue that must of necessity be addressed by the Centre, the state, Parliament and the Assembly. Going by the trend of the discussions in Delhi, an immediate initiative by the Centre seems unlikely.

This is said to have prompted the GJMM and the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) to call off the hunger-strike at a crucial juncture. The youth wing had been on fast since 21 July and the condition of some of the agitators was said to be critical. Had their condition deteriorated, those spearheading the movement for a separate state ~ GJMM and GMCC ~ would have been answerable to their families and the people of Darjeeling.

Markedly, the conciliatory gesture comes after the delegation drew a blank at its meeting with the home minister. In parallel to Monday’s partial thaw in Darjeeling’s “frost”, Mr Gurung has iterated his single-point agenda for talks with the state government ~ the state of Gorkhaland, an emotive issue that has been central to the impasse for the past 30 years.

The demand is unlikely to attain fruition anytime soon. More the reason, therefore, for the two sides to reach a halfway-house. Towards that end, the GTA) ~ a loose federal arrangement introduced by the Chief Minister ~ needs urgently to be revived. Sad to reflect, the morcha has reduced the entity to irrelevance over the past two months. It wasn’t even given a try ever since it was put in place. Its virtual eclipse in the midst of the raging agitation has turned the clock back.