In a dramatic move, absconding Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) founder Bimal Gurung on Wednesday took a U-turn and dealt a heavy blow to the BJP ahead of the Assembly election in West Bengal next year. Accusing the saffron party of not fulfilling its “commitment” towards the separate statehood demand of “Gorkhaland”, he quit the NDA, leaving the BJP stumped.
With talk of an alliance with Trinamul Congress on his lips, Gurung also offered full support to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to help her return to power for the third consecutive time.
The MHA issued a corrigendum earlier this month that the meeting would discuss “issues related to the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA)”.
The GTA, a semi-autonomous body with limited financial and administrative powers, was awarded to the people of Darjeeling Hills as a halfway measure to a separate state.
But the GTA, which has been without an elected body for the last three years, failed to meet the aspirations of the people of the Hills. Hence, the Gorkhas have rejected the GTA and have grown tired of such half-way measures.
One the other hand, Bengalis cutting across party lines are vehemently opposed to the statehood demand which they view as another ‘partition of Bengal’.
The BJP finds itself in an unenviable position here. The party had ambiguously supported the Gorkhas’ demand, but couched it carefully as one for a ‘permanent political solution to the Gorkhaland issue’.
The BJP has reaped political dividends from its support to the Gorkhaland cause with the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency electing BJP candidates for three times in a row (Jaswant Singh in 2009, S.S.Ahluwalia in 2014 and Raju Bista in 2019).
In the bypolls for the Darjeeling Assembly seat last year, BJP’s Neeraj Zimba trounced Binay Tamang who heads the breakaway faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
#BengalElections #GorkhalandIssue #BimalGurung #MamataBanerjee #BJP
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21 окт 2020
