Didi to meet hill agitators today
The meeting between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Gorkhaland agitators on Tuesday will be held under the shadow of two questions — when will the shutdown end and with the decibel level of a demand for tripartite meeting rising among hill parties, what exactly can the bipartite meetings yield.
While leaders of four parties met Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday in Delhi with the request to hold a tripartite meeting, even expelled Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders such as Binoy Tamang and Anit Thapa have publicly said the bipartite meeting has to pave the way for a tripartite meeting, failing which, they would resort to hunger strike.
The other question is when the shutdown, that will reach its 90th day on Tuesday, end.
Banerjee will chair the meeting in Siliguri to restore normalcy in Darjeeling hills. This will be the second meeting after the one on August 29. However, the GJM, led by Bimal Gurung, has not yet been invited. The GJM chief told HT earlier that the bandh will continue till the Centre calls a tripartite meeting to discuss the creation of a separate state.
The bandh in the region began on June 15. On June 19, the administration suspended internet services in the hills. Following a meeting of the agitators with Singh on August 13, GJM withdrew its fast unto death programme in the hills. But life continues to be paralysed for a record three months at a stretch.
Though no one is saying it officially, hill leaders told HT that unless GJM was taken on board, it would be nearly impossible for the state government to usher in peace in the hills. BJP Bengal president Dilip Ghosh said any solution to the hill problem was impossible without Gurung.