The saffron camp’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista is flagging the statehood demand of the Gorkhas in the Lok Sabha while other BJP leaders are proactively making statements to back similar demands raised by various Rajbanshis organisations.

The two-pronged strategy, rival Trinamul feels, is an attempt by the BJP to try and retain its support base by stoking people’s sentiments and diverting attention from development.

On Monday, Bista raised the hill issue again in the Lok Sabha. While speaking on the demand for a state, the MP referred to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), and claimed these “stopgap experiments” failed to address the aspirations of people.

“I have also said there are no elected representatives in the grassroots organisations (GTA and panchayat) across the hills and that people are deprived of their rights for years. I have urged the Centre to expedite the ongoing tripartite talks so that a constitutionally guaranteed permanent political solution can be reached for the region,” said the MP.

Other leaders, including two other MPs of north Bengal John Barla and Nisith Pramanik who are junior ministers in the Narendra Modi government, have backed the demand for a north Bengal state, the support triggering a number of Rajbanshi associations who had been calling for separate statehood for years but had fallen silent in recent times, to renew their activities.

Political forces like the Kamtapur Progressive Party and Kamtapur Peoples’ Party (United) and their frontal organisations are holding marches and protests in the districts of Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar. A lobby of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association headed by Ananta Debbarma is holding regular public meetings with speakers referring to the statehood demand.

The recent assertion of BJP-ruled Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, that the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation is interested in peace talks and that his government would reciprocate, has also led to repercussions in north Bengal.

“Rajbanshi associations want the Bengal government in talks but have also indicated they want the discourse to start, yet another concern for Trinamul as the party is principally against any further partition of Bengal,” pointed out a political observer.

Trinamul leaders, however, are confident they can thwart the BJP from expanding its turf by using the statehood issue.

There are differences within the BJP on statehood, they pointed out.

“It is because of such a divisive stand of the BJP that two its MLAs in north Bengal have joined our party. This is nothing but yet another attempt by the BJP to try and use this issue to garner support as all the promises made by central ministers since 2014 have turned out hollow,” said Rabindranath Ghosh, former minister of Trinamul based in Cooch Behar. The Trinamul government, on the other hand, has done a lot for the hills and Rajbanshis since 2011, he pointed out.

“That’s why a number of regional parties and prominent leaders of Rajbanshi organisations stand in our chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s support… The BJP’s plan to use statehood to win the upcoming (civic and panchayat) elections won’t work,” said Chandan Bhowmik, another senior Trinamul leader of Jalpaiguri.

Soumen Nag, a social researcher based in Siliguri, said it was evident that BJP is putting emphasis on the statehood demands. "It is not that there have been major moves from the Centre on these issues but the strategy seems to be to keep Trinamul and the state government under pressure, and simultaneously, keep consolidating support in north Bengal districts,” he said.