Stalled at foothills

The interlocutor’s Darjeeling visit is in limbo amid CM's objections, leaving Gorkha political demands unresolved. Aditi Phadnis reports

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Pankaj Kumar Singh, former deputy national security advisor, was appointed an “interlocutor and government representative to look into issues of Darjeeling, Dooars and Terai” on October 22 by an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

These regions in West Bengal have a largely Gorkhali-speaking population that migrated from Nepal many decades ago.

While Singh’s office in Delhi is operational, he is yet to visit Darjeeling, a month into his appointment. His absence reflects significant resistance from West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has written twice to PM Narendra Modi, most recently earlier this month, condemning what she calls the Centre’s “unilateral and arbitrary action”, which she described as “unconstitutional, without jurisdiction and devoid of legal sanctity”, urging him to rescind the appointment.

“What the Gorkha people want is a final political settlement,” says S S Ahluwalia, former two-term BJP MP from Darjeeling, echoing a promise in the BJP’s Lok Sabha election manifesto to the Gorkha community of West Bengal.

The challenge is that the idea of a settlement varies sharply across stakeholders. For Ajoy Edwards, convenor of the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front and elected member of the Gorkha Territorial Administration Sabha, the “permanent political aspiration” of the Gorkhas has always been separation from Bengal, a demand no political party in the state is willing to consider.