The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Darjeeling MP Raju Singh Bista met
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday and sought his
intervention in finding a ‘permanent political solution’ to the problem
in the North Bengal hills at the earliest, the lawmaker said after the meeting.
‘Permanent
political solution’ for the Darjeeling hills – where an often-violent
movement for separate statehood of Gorkhaland has kept successive state
governments looking for counter-strategies – was the BJP’s electoral
promise for Darjeeling.
Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress
(TMC) had earlier alleged that the term actually refers to BJP’s plan
for separating Darjeeling from the state. The BJP won the Darjeeling Lok
Sabha seat for the third successive time in the 2019 general elections
with help from the majority of the pro-Gorkhaland, hill-based outfits.
“I
have requested the Prime Minister’s intervention with regard to
arriving at a permanent political solution as committed to in our 2019
Sankalp Patra,” Bista said in a statement after the meeting.
“I
also informed him about the discrimination people here have had to face
over the decades, and the absolute lack of development in the region,”
Bista said, and added Modi advised him to take up the issue with Union
home minister Amit Shah.
No TMC leader agreed to comment on the
development on Wednesday, arguing that the chief minister herself holds
the portfolio of hill affairs.
“Only the chief minister will comment,” said a senior minister.
“The issue is too sensitive and being looked after by the chief minister herself,” said a TMC member of Rajya Sabha.
https://www.hindustantimes.com
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