Blaming the Mamata Banerjee Government in West Bengal for not fulfilling the "economic and cultural aspirations" of Gorkhas, the BJP on Wednesday said that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) was “in contact” with it and will vote for the NDA’s presidential candidate on July 17.
The party has desisted from making a statement on Gorkhaland after some of its leaders reportedly said that they were not in favour of separate State for Gorkhas. BJP president Amit Shah discussed the issue with State leaders including West Bengal State president Dilip Ghosh as the party nuanced its stand on the Gorkhaland issue.
Shah also discussed the matter with party General Secretary and State-in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and Ram lal (General Secretary - Organisation).
The Gorkhaland agitation experienced a spurt after Mamata made Bengali mandatory for classes I-X but later clarified that it was not so for the hills. The TMC-led Government also assured that Nepali would be recognised as one of the official languages of the State, a demand made by GJM.
Vijayvargiya claimed that the TMC Government's "failure to fulfill cultural and economic aspirations" as detailed in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a semi-autonomous administrative body for the Darjeeling hills, was responsible for the current unrest among Gorkhas.
The tripartite memorandum for the GTA was signed on 18 July 2011, and it was then expected that it would ease out the Gorkhaland protest.
GTA presently has three hill subdivisions Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik and some areas of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district and the whole of Kalimpong district under its authority.
"GTA was not implemented by Mamata and hence the unrest. The imposition of Bangla language only further aggravated it", said the BJP General Secretary.
The BJP has been making efforts to create its base in the Northern Bengal and maintaining tactical approach on the Gorkhaland issue. BJP has an MP in SS Ahluwalia from Darjeeling.
BJP had found an ally in GJM in 2013 when its Chief Bimal Gurung resigned from the GTA alleging interference from the West Bengal Government and renewed the agitation for Gorkhaland.
The party had then created positive noises on the issue. Unofficially though, BJP finds little feasibility of carving out a separate State from a region with only three MlAs.