The Home Ministry has called for a meeting on 12 October to discuss issues related to the Gorkhas. As BJP alliance parties like the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in the Hills welcomed a letter sent by the home ministry to Darjeeling MP Raju Bista in this regard, other political parties here raised doubts on the “sincerity” of the letter.

The GNLF claimed that the Centre had sent such invitations to other stakeholders as well. Addressing the press here, GNLF leader Y Lama said, “Our president has been in constant touch with Delhi and he got a message that a tripartite meeting has been called there by the Home Ministry to discuss a solution to the problems of the Gorkhas.”

The letter to Mr Bista in Hindi states that the meeting will be held to discuss a solution to the problems of Gorkhas, where the Home minister will also be present. The letter does not mention anything else. Maintaining that the letter had been sent to other stakeholders also and not only to the Darjeeling MP, he said, “Representatives of the Dooars have also been called in the meeting, and according to the information got by our party president, the state government has also been sent this letter.”

Adding to that, Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba, when contacted, said, “We are thankful to the home minister and also the relentless effort of our Darjeeling MP that a high-level meeting has been called. All the alliance stakeholders
have been sent this letter in email, along with public representatives like John Barla, who will be attending the meeting, along with Vishal Lama.”

Asked about non-alliance parties of the BJP, Mr Zimba said that he too was a stakeholder and did not have any information on that. Non-alliance parties, however, raised doubts on the letter and the meeting to be held.

General secretary of the All India Gorkha League, SP Sharma, said, “The letter is not satisfactory as we have seen only a copy sent to their MP, so how can it be called a tripartite meeting? However, we will wait and see what happens further and will comment after that.”

Speaking on the same lines, TMC (Hills) spokesperson NB Khawas said, “The letter does not have an outline of an official letter. This is just an eyewash.” General secretary of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha Roshan Giri said, “We do not feel that it is an official letter.

Also, we do not think a solution can be expected from it as there is no involvement of the state government.” On the other hand, former GNLF leader Ajoy Edwards, in a Facebook post, said, “Along with the people of the Darjeeing
Hills, Dooars and Terai, I am hopeful that our long-pending demands are met in the widely reported upcoming talks with the honourable Home Minister. We the people have given our all to the BJP in the last 13 years, with nothing to show for till date.

We pray that our local leadership will be successful in negotiations with the Centre on the promises made in their 2019 manifesto.”