Gurung's men attend talks convened by Union Home Ministry to discuss GTA issues

Darjeeling: With the West Bengal Government giving it a miss, the nature of the talks convened by the Union Home Ministry in Delhi on Wednesday changed from tripartite to bipartite. The GJM (Bimal faction) attended the talks called to discuss issues pertaining to the GTA.

The meeting, chaired by G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, in Delhi on Wednesday was attended by a seven-member GJM (Bimal) delegation led by Dr Lopsang Yolmo Lama, working president, GJM (Bimal.)

Yolmo is a press communication claimed that the delegation raised the issue of Gorkhaland and granting tribal status to 11 Gorkha sub-communities.

However, the delegation submitted a memorandum regarding irregularities, interferences and obstacles committed by the State government thereby rendering the GTA defunct.

"The GJM delegation further submitted that Gorkhaland demand being the oldest statehood demand in India and presented various materials supporting the said demand. The Hon'ble Minister assured the delegation that the government would consider and would announce the next meeting in consultation with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah" added

Lama.

Meanwhile addressing a rally to mark the 14th foundation day of the GJM, Anit Thapa, General Secretary of the GJM (Binoy faction) questioned: "After raising all the hue and cry about Gorkhaland, why did Gurung's men attend the GTA review meeting? Gurung ran the GTA for 5 years. The GTA was good then and he did not find any faults. Just as the tenure of the GTA was coming to an end he launched an agitation. Subash Ghising dropped the demand of Gorkhaland and ran the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council for 21 years but no one called him a traitor. It is also evident how the BJP is playing with the sentiment of the Gorkhas."

The CPI(M) too preferred to tow the State Government line regarding the Tripartite talks.

"Without taking the West Bengal Government into confidence the Hill impasse cannot be resolved. How can the Central Government call talks unilaterally? They are doing all this deliberately to create chaos and to polarize," stated Surya Kanta Mishra, State Secretary, CPIM in

Siliguri. The CPIM prescribed maximum autonomy for the Hills within the framework of the state of West

Bengal.

"We demand that the Union Government and the GJM (Bimal,) both signatories of the GTA Accord should immediately initiate the process of scrapping the GTA. The Union Government should immediately open dialogues on the 'permanent political solution' that they had committed in the BJP election manifesto

during the last parliamentary elections in 2019," stated Mahendra Chettri, Spokesperson, GNLF, a BJP ally.