‘Centre ignoring regional political parties in hill talks’
Siliguri: The Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) has accused the BJP and the Union government of sidelining regional political parties in the ongoing discussions about a permanent political solution for the Gorkha impasse. At a press conference held in Siliguri on Tuesday, IGJF Central committee members NB Khawas, Mahendra Chhetri and Narbu Tshiring Bhutia voiced their concerns, calling the upcoming Delhi meeting a mere political stunt ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The Central government has scheduled a meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to address the Gorkha issue. The meeting will be chaired by Nityananda Rai, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. IGJF leaders expressed disappointment and anger over the exclusion of other regional parties from the crucial discussion, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the meeting.
“We had hoped that this meeting would be truly tripartite, including all concerned stakeholders. However, none of the regional political parties and various organisations in the hills for a solution to the political problems have been invited. We have sent an email to Nityanand Rai, raising all our issues and urging the inclusion of 11 tribes in the Scheduled Tribes list. They have been selective in their approach and only invited alliance partners of the BJP, even excluding some like the All India Gorkha League.
While they have invited Darjeeling MP Rau Bista, Darjeeling MLA from BJP Niraj Zimba and also the BJP party Darjeeling Hill president Kalyan Dewan, they have not excluded the BJP rebel MLA BP Sharma who had threatened to raise the demand of Gorkhaland in the talks.
They have also not invited the Kalimpong MLA Ruden Lepcha who is from Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha. It seems more like a meeting of BJP and alliance partners for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections,” said Mahendra Chhetri, IGJF leader. NB Khawas also criticised the delay in convening the meeting, pointing out that a similar meeting had been called three-and-a-half years ago.
“Why there has been such a prolonged delay is unclear. However, it is evident that this meeting is a mere political stunt. The Central government has selectively invited only their allied political parties, ignoring others. This is a clear attempt to suppress the voices of regional political forces and push their own agenda in the hills,” he said further adding that the persons attending talks should press for the separate state of Gorkhaland and the inclusion of 12 Gorkha sub-communities in the Scheduled Tribe list.
“They should also spell out what they mean by Permanent Political Solution for the gorkhas, which they mentioned in the BJP party election manifesto. We should hear from them rather than speculating,” added Chhetri.
