MLA Neeraj Zimba said on Thursday that more than 18 "high-level committees coordinated by the Union home ministry" and representing the military and various wings of the central government had visited the Darjeeling hills, Siliguri and Sikkim in the past two years
The claim by the Darjeeling MLA assumes significance as even BJP legislators in north Bengal have been raising the demand for a new state and there are whispers of some political churning in the region.
“The visits, which started after the last tripartite meeting, do show that the Centre is working on something,” said Zimba.
The last tripartite meeting of the central and stategovernments and hill leaders had been held on October 12, 2021.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) which is in power at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, however, said Darjeeling was waiting for results and not lip service.
“I cannot comment on the Darjeeling MLA’s statement as I am not aware of the content. The Darjeeling hills have had enough of lip service,” a BGPM leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier, Darjeeling BJPMP Raju Bista had said the Union home ministry was looking at holding a tripartite meeting between July 10 and 20.
Bista, however, told this newspaper later that he was expecting the meeting to be held by July end.
Asked if he was trying to divert attention from the delay in the tripartite meeting, Zimba said: “These revelations have nothing to do with the tripartite meeting. Since none had asked me about this issue,I had not talked about it in the past. Also in politics, there is time for everything.”
Zimba's statement has come in the backdrop of the election of Rajbanshi leader Ananta Maharaj, a proponent of the Kamtapur state, to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal on a BJP ticket.
Zimba said he had been asked to coordinate with certain committees and meet their members during their visits to the region in the past two years.
“I am personally aware of 18 high-level committees visiting Darjeeling, Siliguri, north Bengal and Sikkim. There could have been more committees that visited the area,” said Zimba, a GNLF leader who was elected to the Assembly on a BJP ticket.
He said the committees were mostly “coordinated” by the Union home ministry and consisted of representatives of the "military directorate", "statistics and planning", "national security advisory board" and "registrar general of India", among others.
On July 4, 2022, national security adviser Ajit Doval had stayed in the Makaibari tea garden in Kurseong for a “family holiday” for a few days. Zimba was then spotted at the Bagdogra airport welcoming Doval. The MLA, however, then termed his presence at the airport as a “rare coincidence”, adding that he had been “cautioned and could not speak much” about the matter.
In the past, too, Zimba had claimed that Doval had met GNLF president Mann Ghisingh in Dehradun and New Delhi when the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation was at its peak.
Zimba said the GNLF had then written a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking “a high-level intervention” following his meeting with Doval. The chief minister used the letter to invite hill leaders to talks during the agitation.
Apart from the committees "coordinated" by the Union home ministry, Zimba said a "high-level" team of the RSS had also visited the region.
“The committees have spoken to cross–sections, including social organisations and even leaders of political parties,” said the MLA.
The teams seem to have studied the pattern of politics in the region, the Gorkhaland agitations, the history of political leaders and the demography of the region, among others.
