Kolkata: Rebel Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader and newly appointed Chairman of Board of Administrators for Darjeeling Hills (BoADH), Binay Tamang, on Monday warned Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia and state BJP President Dilip Ghosh not to visit the Hills without a clear stand on the Gorkhaland demand.
He said, “Since 2009, the Gorkhas have been sending BJP leaders to the Parliament with the hope of Gorkhaland, but nothing has been done so far. Recently, our MP SS Ahluwalia, made a statement in Tripura that the division of Bengal and Tripura is not possible. Dilip Ghosh and Amit Shah also said the same thing. It is unfortunate that despite supporting our cause for Gorkhaland in their manifesto, now these leaders are making such statements.”
Tamang demanded an apology from the Member of Parliament.
“I have information that these BJP leaders are planning to come to Darjeeling. I would like to tell them to clear their stand on Gorkhaland. If they are willing to give us Gorkhaland, or not. BJP or NDA’s stand is not clear. It would be better for them to come to Darjeeling with a clear stand or else, they could be faced with some law and order problem and for that we will not be responsible,” Tamang added.
Speaking to News18, Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh, who will be visiting Darjeeling on October 4, said, “I would like to ask him why is he not asking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her stand instead. We don’t take sold out leaders like him (Binay Tamang) too seriously. Darjeeling is nobody’s private property and no one can stop me from entering Darjeeling.”
It was learnt that a team of BJP leaders are likely to visit Darjeeling on Tuesday.
On September 20, in a major setback for GJM Chief Bimal Gurung, Mamata Banerjee formed a new administrative body called the Board of Administrators for Darjeeling Hills till the scheduled election of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and appointed Binay Tamang as its Chairman.
Another GJM rebel leader, Anit Thapa, was made the vice-chairman of BoADH. The other key members are: state Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De, LB Rai (TMC), Mann Ghising (GNLF), Sanchari Subba (GJM) and Jaitoon Khatun.
While addressing mediapersons, Mamata said, “These people were appointed to supervise the administration of the hills in the absence of GTA. The Board will govern the areas which used to fall under GTA. The initiative has been taken for the development of the Hills.”
The rift in GJM was out in the open after August 31, when Binay Tamang was removed as the Chief Coordinator for going against Bimal Gurung’s wish to call off the indefinite strike in the Hills. Binay’s removal came after he announced to call off the indefinite bandh.
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