BJP in Catch-22 on Gorkhaland

Darjeeling: With the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha spearheading an agitation for Gorkhaland, its alliance partner BJP is in a Catch-22 situation as it can neither come out openly in support of a separate state nor afford to oppose it.

The BJP, which had twice won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2014 with GJM’s help with the promise of sympathetically looking into the demand of the Gorkhas, is now facing the heat as the party could not clear its position on the demand for Gorkhaland.

The dilemma within the BJP has not gone down well within the rank and file of the Darjeeling district unit of BJP. “Our party (BJP) is in a dilemma as it can neither oppose the demand for Gorkhaland nor support it. Supporting the demand for Gorkhaland means loosing support in the plains, where we would be termed as anti-Bengali. But if we do not support the demand for a separate state, then we will lose our support in the hills,” BJP district general secretary Shanta Kishore Gurung said.

Mr Gurung had recently participated in a pro-Gorkhaland protest organised by the GJM and had extended his support to a demand for Gorkhaland. He slammed the BJP central unit saying, “the party is taking the Gorkhas and their sentiments for their own ethnic identities lightly.”

His comment come in the backdrop of BJP state president Dilip Ghosh and national secretary Rahul Sinha clearly opposing the demand for Gorkhaland. Even the central unit of BJP has not cleared its stand on this specific issue. “The party needs to come out clean on this issue as it is sending out a wrong message to the masses. Our party cadres in the Hills are angry with us and threatening to leave the party and join GJM,” a senior district BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

Another top BJP leader said, “...if the party keeps delaying announcement of its decision, it will be very tough to maintain a hold on our cadres in the district.” GJM MLA Amar Singh Rai said, it was “really unfortunate” that BJP, which had promised to create a separate state of Gorkhaland if it came to power, had completely taken a U-turn on this issue.