Prominent leaders in the Darjeeling hills, including BJP MLA Neeraj Zimba, used the occasion of Gorkhaland Martyrs’ Day on Thursday to raise questions about the lack of initiatives by the saffron camp to meet the long-standing demand for the region’s statehood.

Zimba, a GNLF leader who was elected to the Assembly from Darjeeling as a BJP candidate, said: “This is a warning to the Government of India, from a BJP MLA to the BJP. Enough is enough. We have not elected you for roads. I have not held your flag in the place of the green flag (GNLF’s flag) for the road and Jai Shri Ram. Our freedom lies in the land, our demand is for land.”

All political parties separately marked the Martyrs’ Day in the hills on Thursday. On July 27, 1986, 13 Gorkhaland activists were killed in a police firing when a rally was being brought out to burn copies of Article VII of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, 1950.

The article allows the free movement of citizens of Nepal and India to each other’s territory and hill parties believe the provision dilutes the identity of Nepali-speaking Indian nationals.

Addressing the Martyrs’ Day programme in Darjeeling, Zimba, however, said he was “smelling” something good and was hopeful of something positive for the hills. “This (central) government has a different style of functioning.”

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung said while he had “little hope” in the present BJP government, he demanded that the Centrebe decisive with regard to the Gorkhas.

“They (BJP) are the ones to raise our demand in the manifesto. Our borders (with Nepal) are open. We want the border to be sealed. If India does not end the identity crisis, should we tell Nepal’s prime minister to give citizenship? What else can we do?.... That is why we are saying the Centre has to take a decisive decision,” Gurung said while speaking at the Martyrs’ Day event hosted by the Morcha in Darjeeling.

The Morcha had been with the BJP for 12 years from 2009 to 2020.

Many political observers said Gurung’s reference to the Nepal prime minister was unwarranted.

The BJP had in its manifesto for the 2019 general election promised to “find a permanent political solution” for the hills.

Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, said the hills had realised the BJP would not deliver on its promises. “This government (BJP-led Centre) is not going to give us anything... in the past two terms, they have had the full mandate, they gave us nothing, and will never give justice to the Gorkhas. Until this government is ousted, the dreams of the martyrs will not turn into a reality,” Thapa said while addressing a programme in Kalimpong to mark the Martyrs’ Day.