BJP’s progress stalled in resolving Darjeeling hills political issue: Congress

Aday before polling in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress on Thursday attacked the BJP, saying despite winning the seat in the last three elections, it has made ”zero progress” on finding a permanent political solution to the issue of the Darjeeling Hills.

Three Lok Sabha constituencies in the northern part of West Bengal, including the strategically important Darjeeling seat, will go to polls in the second phase of general elections on Friday.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said only the Congress has taken concrete action to address the people’s concerns in Darjeeling.

”The people of beautiful and historic Darjeeling go to polls tomorrow. This is why they cannot trust the Bharatiya Jumla Party: 2009 BJP Manifesto: ‘We will sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling district and Dooars region’,” Ramesh said.

In its 2014 manifesto, the BJP said it will sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling district and the Dooars region, according to Ramesh.

”2019 BJP Manifesto: ‘We are committed to work towards finding a permanent political solution to the issue of Darjeeling Hills, Siliguri Terai, and Dooars region’,” Ramesh said.

Despite winning the Darjeeling seat in all three elections, the BJP has made ”zero progress” on finding a permanent political solution to the issue of the Darjeeling Hills, he said.

Only the Congress has taken concrete action to address the people’s concerns – establishing the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988 and setting up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in 2012, with even more administrative powers, Ramesh said. The Darjeeling Hills, known for its tea, has witnessed bouts of violence since the ’80s over the demand for a separate state of ‘Gorkhaland’. The most recent one happened in 2017 and lasted 104 days, leaving behind a trail of destruction.