New Delhi [India] : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired a meeting to find a “solution to problems related to the Gorkhas”. The meeting is significant as the motive seems to find a Permanent Political Solution (PPS) to the more than 100-year-old demand of a separate state for the Gorkhas within the Indian federal structure. The meeting started here at 4 pm at the North Block office of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the presence of the Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla. Certain public representatives and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including BJP MP Raju Bista, regional alliance partners in the hills in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in northern West Bengal participated in the meeting.
During the 2019 parliamentary elections, the BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ (election manifesto) had made assurances to resolve the issue. Despite BJP candidate Raju Bista winning a seat from the Darjeeling constituency, these assurances have not been translated into action on the PPS front. The BJP has also not divulged what the PPS will be – a separate state, a union territory or any other form of administrative arrangement. All this has resulted in a constant build-up of pressure from opposition parties. In last week, certain public representatives and political leaders received invitations from the Centre to hold a meeting in the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the issue.
