President to visit Siliguri on Sat; To take part in Santhal conference

Darjeeling: In a last minute development, the visit of Droupadi Murmu, President of India’s scheduled visit to Darjeeling town on Friday was cancelled. She will, however, visit Siliguri on Saturday to inaugurate the 9th Santhal Conference.

The President was scheduled to arrive at Darjeeling on Friday. There, the President was scheduled to launch the Darjeeling Hill Festival to mark the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram and inaugurate an exhibition ‘Root & Rhythms’ at Lok Bhavan, Darjeeling.

Stringent arrangements were put into place for the President’s visit to the Hill town. Traffic restrictions were to be clamped from Friday morning to ensure that the President could arrive by road from Siliguri if the weather and low visibility would not permit the trip by helicopter. On the morning of March 6, authorities informed that the President’s trip to Darjeeling town stands cancelled. No reasons were cited for this. However, many are of the opinion that the itinerary was revised following the abrupt resignation of West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and the appointment of RN Ravi as the new Governor of West Bengal. The last President’s visit to Darjeeling town was in 2016, when the then President Pranab Mukherjee had attended a Government of West Bengal-hosted state reception in his honour along with the state programme marking the commemoration of the birth anniversary of Adi Kavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya.

The President of India’s office, however, confirmed: “The President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu will visit Darjeeling, West Bengal on March 7, 2026 where she will grace the 9th International Santal conference, being organised by the International Santal Council.”

The conference is being organised at Majhithang in Bidhannagar under the Phansidewa Block in the plains of the Darjeeling district. The conference will focus on the socio-economic development of the Santhal community. Around 1200 delegates and 300 invited guests are expected to take part. The President will be inaugurating the conference.