Gopal Lama, the candidate of the Trinamul Congress-Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha alliance for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, seems to have made a false start to his campaign by stating there would be no “issues left” if development is carried out.

Lama’s statement on reaching Siliguri — also a part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency — on Tuesday sparked a row in the Darjeeling hills, where identity issue dominates hill politics.

A statement by Lama where he says he has no issues is doing the rounds on social media.

“We don’t have any such issues, issue means development, stress on peace. The government is undertaking development work on a large scale, and if we carry on with development, there will be no issues left,” Lama has stated.

For years, the talking points in Darjeeling hill politics have been statehood, identity, language preservation and tribal status. Lama’s party, BGPM also talks of “practical politics”, development and “putting in place (administrative) systems”.

Gopal Pariyar, the Hamro Party leader who is also a councillor of Darjeeling municipality, on Thursday said Lama’s statement was a clear indication that Trinamul and BGPM were trying to decimate the “Gorkhaland issue” through development talks.

“We are surprised by Gopal Lama’s statement. He is trying to decimate our
issue, our aspirations through talks of development. Those who support Gorkhaland should not vote for him as he has said that we do not have any issues,” said Pariyar, adding it was clear that the “hidden agenda” of Trinamul and the BGPM was to “decimate” the “Gorkhaland issue through development talks”.

Lama, however, clarified he had only stressed that the Gorkhaland issue should not be made a “begging bowl during elections.”

“Other parties only seem to understand Gorkhaland when I talked about mudda (issue) I only mean to say that while Gorkhaland is an issue of Gorkhas spread across India, Gorkhaland should not be made a begging bowl during an election campaign. Gorkhaland is janta’s mudda (people’s issue), not just an election issue,” Lama told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Observers believe that the Opposition camps are expected to use Lama’s statement to counter the Trinamul candidate throughout the Lok Sabha poll campaign in the region.

“In any case, Trinamul is opposed to creating the Gorkhaland state,” said an observer.