Regional hill parties meet in Darjeeling, renew demand for Gorkhaland

Leaders of several regional political parties and organisations of the Darjeeling hills met at an all-party meeting in Darjeeling on Saturday and renewed their demand for a permanent political solution to the long-pending Gorkhaland issue.

The meeting was called by the Naya Party Nirman Samiti, a newly-formed platform that is planning to launch a new regional political party by bringing together members from different hill-based parties.

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Representatives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF), Sumeti Mukti Morcha, Gorkha Rashtriya Nirman Morcha and several other organisations attended the meeting.

However, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) and Jan Andolan Party (JAP), led by Harka Bahadur Chhetri, did not attend. The organisers also did not invite the BJP and the Congress, saying the meeting was meant only for regional political parties and organisations of the hills.

Sanjay Thulung, coordinator of the Naya Party Nirman Samiti, said this was the first such meeting and more discussions would be held in the coming days.

The meeting also discussed a memorandum that had already been sent to Union home minister Amit Shah through Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, urging the Centre to speed up the process for a permanent political solution. The participants said that since the BJP is in power both at the Centre and in West Bengal, the long-pending issue should now be settled at the earliest.