Bengal, GJM hold dialogue; Mamata says it was positive

Describing the first round of dialouge with all political parties for peace in Darjeeling as “positive”, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made it clear on Tuesday that consideration of the separate statehood demand for Gorkhaland was beyond her government’s authority. Ms Banerjee has also called for an end to the indefinite shutdown that has been continuing for the last two months in the Darjeeling hills.

The leaders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and Jan Andolan Party (JAP) attended the peace talks along with other political leaders. After chairing the hour-long meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat here, Ms Banerjee said: “It was a positive and cordial meeting, which means the beginning of a dialogue. We are happy the dialogue has ultimately got under way after 78 days.”

Elaborating details of the peace talks, Ms

Banerjee said: “The discussion was good with those who attended the meeting today. The hill parties — GJM, GNLF and JAP — raised their demand of Gorkhaland, which is their prerogative. They can air their voice. It is a democratic setup. Raising their demand at the start of the meeting, they said Gorkhaland is the aim of their movement.”

The CM went on: “But we clearly told them we would not discuss the issue as it does not fall under our purview and we can’t do anything on it. They also spoke about the bipartite meeting with the state government. They asked us to recommend their Gorkhaland demand to

‘All of us have unanimously agreed in favour of the restoration of peace. All political parties can discuss it among themselves,’ Ms Banerjee said.

New Delhi, which has jurisdiction. But we never made such a recommendation earlier, and we will not be able to make any such recommendation now.”

Ms Banerjee added: “What we can discuss is restoration of peace and normality in the hills as we want to resolve the issue. Dialogue is a continuous process which has just started. The scope of not-talks has ended. We will meet again in the second week of next month. The next meeting will be held at 3 pm on September 12 in Uttarkanya (in Darjeeling).”

Ms Banerjee said: “All of us have unanimously agreed in favour of the restoration of peace. All political parties can discuss it among themselves. Let them take some. The dialogue must continue. We have appealed to all to end the bandh in Darjeeling.”

Binay Tamang, who led the five-member GJM team at the talks, later condemned the explosions in Darjeeling. Along with JAP leader Harka Bahadur Chhetri, he also called for the restoration of peace in the hills.