Gorkhaland: GJM writes to Shah ‘reminding’ of promise
1 Aug 2014 3:57 AM IST
Sources says GJM chief Bimal Gurung had been under pressure from party leaders to take up the issue of Gorkhaland ever since the formation of Telangana, when it was carved out of Andhra
Pradesh on 2 June.
GJM has written a letter to Shah to take up the matter with prime minister Narendra Modi to fulfill BJP’s ‘pre-poll promise’ that probably ensured BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia’s election from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, sources said.
‘We have waited for quite some time to get some response from the central leadership over the issue. But unfortunately there is no response from any senior BJP leader over Gorkhaland.
Therefore, we have decided to once again raise the issue,’ a senior GJM leader told Millennium Post.
GJM’s demand might cause some troubles in the BJP camp because most leaders want to keep the issue on the back-burner, especially now when the country is reeling under severe financial issues.
GJM insiders claimed that the outfit has developed differences with Ahluwalia too because he has so far failed to get centre’s attention on the issue despite repeated pleas.
The souring of relations had been anticipated long back given BJP’s uncertain stand on smaller states. The party had at one point opposed the creation of Telangana but eventually agreed to it.
BJP’s candidate Jaswant Singh is believed to have won the Darjeeling seat in 2009 elections on the plank of supporting Gorkhaland.
In the run-up to the 2009 general elections, the BJP and Singh had made a strong pitch for creating Gorkhaland state but ground realties suggests that BJP had used the GJM for their political gains.
The current silence of the party members over the issue is reported to have angered the GJM and the Gorkhaland Task Force, a conglomeration of pro-Gorkhaland outfits.
GJM leaders feel that once again the BJP is taking the same ‘opportunist stand’ over the demand. The BJP knows it will difficult to carve out Gorkhaland in the midst of a strong opposition from the West Bengal state BJP unit and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s tough stand against a separate state. The state BJP leader Tathagata Ray has made the party state unit’s opposition to the issue clear.
Ray was earlier quoted as saying: ‘The West Bengal BJP unit is not in favour of a separate state of Gorkhaland. Yes, BJP as a party is in favour of smaller states for better development. But not in case of Darjeeling, as it has only three sub-divisions and there are other issues too.’
Pradesh on 2 June.
GJM has written a letter to Shah to take up the matter with prime minister Narendra Modi to fulfill BJP’s ‘pre-poll promise’ that probably ensured BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia’s election from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, sources said.
‘We have waited for quite some time to get some response from the central leadership over the issue. But unfortunately there is no response from any senior BJP leader over Gorkhaland.
Therefore, we have decided to once again raise the issue,’ a senior GJM leader told Millennium Post.
GJM’s demand might cause some troubles in the BJP camp because most leaders want to keep the issue on the back-burner, especially now when the country is reeling under severe financial issues.
GJM insiders claimed that the outfit has developed differences with Ahluwalia too because he has so far failed to get centre’s attention on the issue despite repeated pleas.
The souring of relations had been anticipated long back given BJP’s uncertain stand on smaller states. The party had at one point opposed the creation of Telangana but eventually agreed to it.
BJP’s candidate Jaswant Singh is believed to have won the Darjeeling seat in 2009 elections on the plank of supporting Gorkhaland.
In the run-up to the 2009 general elections, the BJP and Singh had made a strong pitch for creating Gorkhaland state but ground realties suggests that BJP had used the GJM for their political gains.
The current silence of the party members over the issue is reported to have angered the GJM and the Gorkhaland Task Force, a conglomeration of pro-Gorkhaland outfits.
GJM leaders feel that once again the BJP is taking the same ‘opportunist stand’ over the demand. The BJP knows it will difficult to carve out Gorkhaland in the midst of a strong opposition from the West Bengal state BJP unit and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s tough stand against a separate state. The state BJP leader Tathagata Ray has made the party state unit’s opposition to the issue clear.
Ray was earlier quoted as saying: ‘The West Bengal BJP unit is not in favour of a separate state of Gorkhaland. Yes, BJP as a party is in favour of smaller states for better development. But not in case of Darjeeling, as it has only three sub-divisions and there are other issues too.’
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