Row over Amit Shah letter: BJP wants political solution on Darjeeling, not separate state, says Dilip Ghosh

“We will work for the development of the people of the Hills,” he added.

Amit Shah’s letter to BJP MP from Darjeeling, Raju Bista, had kicked up a row over the use of the word ‘Gorkhaland’. According to sources in the BJP, Bista had written a letter to Shah in July in which he voiced concern over Gorkhas being left out of the purview of the special cell formed by Delhi Police to counter acts of racism, particularly against the people from the Northeast. In his reply to Bista, Shah had said that the MP’s concern over the people of “Gorkhaland and Ladakh area” is being looked at.

The use of the word ‘Gorkhaland’ by Shah invited criticism from the ruling Trinamool, which accused the Centre and the BJP of “plotting to divide West Bengal”.

Reacting to the TMC’s allegation, Bista said the use of the word “Gorkhaland” has nothing to do with the creation of a separate state. He said that he had written about the residents of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) — the autonomous body that looks after the development of the Darjeeling hills. “The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was set up through a tripartite agreement between the TMC government, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and the Congress government at the Centre in 2011. So, if they can use the word Gorkhaland, why can’t we use it to refer to the residents of the area. This is political hypocrisy of the TMC,” Bista had told PTI.

Following the Centre’s decision to create two union territories (UT) — Ladakh and J&K — after bifurcating the state of Jammu & Kashmir, several leaders in the Hills have renewed their demand for UT status of Darjeeling.

Darjeeling has in the past witnessed violent agitations over the demand of a separate Gorkhaland, the latest being in June 2017, when the hills witnessed a 104-day strike over statehood.

(With PTI Inputs)