Not for separate Gorkhaland state, BJP clarifies

NEW DELHI: With the Gorkhaland agitation refusing to die down and violence every day in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, the ruling BJP at the Centre on Tuesday clarified that the party does not back a separate Gorkhaland state that is being demanded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and other Gorkha outfits.

BJP general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijaywarghiya on Tuesday said, “We (BJP) are not in favour of a separate Gorkhaland state, but we want to protect the identity and culture of the Gorkha people and to address their development concerns. We have always been sympathetic to concerns of the Gorkhas when it comes to protecting their identity. The party has never backed a separate Gorkhaland,” while speaking to reporters at the party headquarters here.

In the 2004 election manifesto when then party MP Jaswant Singh won the Darjeeling seat with Gorkha support, BJP had nuanced its stand saying the party will espouse the Gorkhaland cause, stopped short of declaring that it will support a separate state. Even in 2014 elections when Ahluwalia won the seat with GJM backing, BJP did not specifically talk of a Gorkhaland state.

Vijaywarghiya blamed the Mamata Banerjee government for the present unrest and said that she has failed to empower the GTA (Gorkhaland Tribunal Administration), give them more administrative powers and to protect the cultural identity of Gorkhas and that is the reason for the current outrage among the Gorkhas.

With BJP MP SS Ahluwalia representing the hill district which constitutes the only parliamentary seat from the hills, the party has been caught in a fix over whether to support a demand for Gorkhaland, since BJP is national party on the one hand, but also enjoys the support of Bimal Gurung’s GJM on the other. With BJP looking at the party’s growth in West Bengal, which has 42 parliamentary constituencies including Darjeeling, supporting Gorkhaland would make the party unpopular in the rest of state as majority of the people would see it as a ploy to split the state. At present BJP has just two Lok Sabha seats in the state... Darjeeling and Asansol.

BJP sources also said that a separate state for Gorkhaland is not feasible as it is a border area with China and hence security is a major issue in the region. This, according to sources, is the view of the Union home ministry, which has already looked into the issue. Party sources also said that the Centre does not rule out some involvement of China in the Darjeeling unrest.

State BJP leaders including party president Dilip Ghosh have been summoned to Delhi for a meeting with party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday night to work out a nuanced party line on the burning issue, in order to hold on to GJM’s support as well as to address the rest of Bengal, for electoral gains in 2019.

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