Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista who had promised to quit politics if the Centre failed to provide “justice” to the people of the hills and the Dooars by the end of 2024 made a U-turn on Thursday as the Narendra Modi government’s tenure was coming to an end.
During a visit to Mirik on Thursday, Bista said in Nepali: “I have promised (to deliver on a permanent political solution). I will not look at 24, 25, 26. Others don’t have the guts (to make a promise). I have promised that until the dream of Gorkhas is fulfilled, Raju Bista will remain in Darjeeling politics.”
The BJP MP had a completely different stand a year ago.
During the last day of campaigning for the Darjeeling municipality elections on February 25, 2022, Bisa had said: “I am speaking on record. If the people of Darjeeling, the Terai and the Dooars do not get justice (by 2024), Raju Bista will quit politics and will not contest any election in future.”
In its manifesto for the 2019 general election, the BJP had promised to grant tribal status to 11 Gorkha communities and find a “permanent political solution” for the region. Even though the party has not defined the "permanent political solution (PPS)", most in the hills interpret it as Gorkhaland.
During the election time, Bista had also interpreted it as Gorkhaland.
On May 17, 2019, which was the last day for the campaigning for the Darjeeling Assembly byelection, Bista created a flutter by uttering the word “Gorkhaland” after remaining silent for two months on the issue as Bengal was voting for the Lok Sabha polls.
The Darjeeling Assembly bypoll was held soon after the Lok Sabha elections had been over in Bengal. It is a known fact that the Gorkhaland issue does not go well with voters in the rest of Bengal.
Addressing a gathering at Chowrasta in Darjeeling in 2019, Bista had said: “What will Gorkhas do? They will bring Gorkhaland.” They were a reference to GNLF leader and BJP candidate Neeraj Zimba.
On Friday, Bista did not take repeated calls from this newspaper.
Apart from the turnaround by Bista, many in the hills believe that the BJP which has been winning the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat since 2009 is finding itself in a difficult situation because of the failure to deliver on the party's promise.
Bista, however, sounded confident in Mirik.
“A golden future awaits us. The issue is in the safe hands of the BJP which will solve this issue,” said Bista, who, however, admitted that the “delay” in fulfilling the demands was making the public restless.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which was instrumental in ensuring the BJP’s win from Darjeeling in 2019 has decided to hold a dharna in New Delhi on September 20 and 21.
A special session of the Parliament is being convened from September 18 to 22.
“We request all people raising the Gorkhaland issue to be present at Jantar Mantar on these two days,” said Noman Rai, the general secretary of the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha.
The Morcha leader said leaders of the party would also meet Bista to seek clarity on the issue.
“We are also trying to get together other communities demanding state in north Bengal to take forward our demand,” said Rai.
