Will prioritise resolving Gorkha issue, withdraw cases against leaders after winning Bengal: Amit Shah

Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that once the BJP assumes power in West Bengal, it will prioritise resolving the Gorkha issue in Darjeeling and withdraw all cases registered against community leaders and workers for violent agitations in the past.

Shah, who was unable to reach the upper reaches of Lebong in the Darjeeling hills due to unfavourable weather conditions, addressed the gathering through a recorded video message from Malda.

"I am deeply regretful of not being able to reach you today. But I promise you that I will meet you in person at the scheduled public meeting at Sukna in Kurseong on April 21, where I will discuss in detail the development roadmap for the hills and multiple announcements we have for the people of Darjeeling," he said.

"For now, I will say that once we form a government in Bengal, our priority would be to resolve the Gorkha issue as quickly as possible. We will withdraw all pending police cases against Gorkha leaders and workers after we come to power in the state," he added.

The former BJP chief said that following the series of meetings he held so far while crisscrossing the state in the run-up to the polls, he has no doubt that the BJP will defeat the TMC in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.

"With BJP in government, not only will infiltration, goonda-raj and the rule of syndicates and mafia in Bengal come to an end, we will also abort the police-raj effected by registering thousands of false cases against our Gorkha brothers in the hills," Shah said.

"We will also bring about, with certainty, a permanent solution to the Gorkha issue here." The Union Home Minister said that despite multiple attempts in the last one-and-a-half years to resolve the Gorkha issue, Mamata Banerjee and her representatives skipped all three meetings, which were held in Delhi to address the problem.

"Frustrated with the state government's non-cooperation, I chose to reach out to Bengal and appointed an interlocutor to mediate with all stakeholders concerned. But even there, Mamata Banerjee gave no time to the mediator. That's because she doesn't want justice served to the true Gorkha patriots living in the hills or have their rights established," Shah said.

"But you needn't worry. Once the BJP forms a government here on May 5, we will resolve the Gorkha issue from within the constitutional framework. It will be our priority," he added.

Shah claimed the Communists had instituted the "tradition of restricting people's movement through intimidation by using the police, and it was continued by Mamata Banerjee".

He said justice will be done with all Gorkhas who have been "slapped with false cases" by the TMC government, by the way of immediate withdrawal of the charges.

The decades-old demand of the Nepali-speaking Indians in the Darjeeling hills for a separate state of Gorkhaland had seen violent episodes in the past.

Despite the formation of the semi-autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in 2011 to administer the upper reaches of Darjeeling and parts of the foothills, violent agitations took place till as late as 2017.

The region witnessed multiple twists and turns over the political partnership between the local Gorkha parties, like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), and bigger players like the BJP and TMC, where the demand for a separate Gorkhaland has always acquired political centre stage.

In the upcoming polls, the TMC is in a strategic seat-sharing alliance with the Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BJPM), a breakaway faction of Bimal Gurung's GJM. The TMC has left the Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong seats to its partner.

The BJP, on the other hand, has yet again secured the support of Gurung, although the saffron party is directly contesting the polls from the region this time.

Darjeeling will vote in the first phase of the assembly polls in the state on April 23. The second phase of polls will be held on April 29, followed by counting on May 4.