BJP's Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has stated that the Union home ministry is ready to hold a tripartite meeting on Gorkhaland between July 10 and 20, an announcement contested even by his own party's Kurseong MLA.
Bista, while campaigning for rural polls since Monday in various pockets of his constituency, said: “The letter for a tripartite meeting is ready with the Union home ministry and it will be released any day. I can state with some degree of confidence that the tripartite meeting will be held between July 10 and July 20.”
Panchayat elections are scheduled for July 8.
B.P. Sharma (Bajgain), the BJP MLA from Kurseong, on Wednesday expressed reservations over the claim of the MP from the same party, saying the announcement could be a ploy to influence the panchayat elections.
BJP MLA from Kurseong BP Sharma. File photo
"Why is the tripartite meeting issue being raked up only during election time? I sincerely want the meetings to be held but it should not be used as an election plank. This announcement could have been made before the panchayat elections were announced or after voting on July 8. The timing raises questions,” said Sharma, adding that the emotive issue of Gorkhaland should not be used just to garner votes.
Sharma is not off the mark as the Centre has repeatedly failed to honour its promises to the people of Darjeeling.
On September 26, 2017, Bimal Gurung president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha called off the 104-day strike in Darjeeling after then Union home minister Rajnath Singh promised to convene a tripartite meeting within a “fortnight.”
The meeting was never called during Singh’s tenure, which ended in 2019.
The BJP again promised a permanent political solution (PPS), which people in the hills interpreted as Gorkhaland, and tribal status to 11 communities in its manifesto before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Finally, the Centre convened a meeting on August 7, 2020, but changed the agenda from “issues related to Gorkhaland to issues related to the GTA”. With BJP allies in the hills refusing to attend the meeting for a GTA agenda, the meeting was cancelled.
The meeting was finally held on October 7, 2020. Only Bimal Gurung’s party attended it.
The next tripartite meeting, chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah, was held on October 12, 2021, on “issues related to the Gorkhas.”
A PIB release after the meeting stated the Union home minister “decided to call for the second round of talks in the presence of the senior officials of Government of West Bengal in November 2021". This meeting has so far not been called.
"When the Union home ministry did not convey the tripartite meeting in November 2021, I wrote to the ministry asking them to hold the meeting as promised. I have not received any communication so far,” said Sharma.
Bista said his announcement wasn't a “political stunt” geared around rural polls.
“This is not a political stunt. I don’t want to mix panchayat elections with Gorkhaland and ask for votes as Gorkhaland is a 100-year-old demand, many have been martyred for this cause and it is not right for me to talk about such a pure issue during the panchayat elections,” said Bista.
