Hills MLAs support Bengal CM's Centre bashing

TNN | Oct 17, 2017, KOLKATA: The third round of the bilateral talks at Nabanna on Monday adopted a resolution criticizing the Centre's move to withdraw central forces from the Hills. The three GJM MLAs -Amar Singh Rai, Rohit Sharma and Sarita Rai -attended the meeting and consented to this resolution.Their party, however, sent a "congratulatory message" to the home ministry. The third leg of the bilateral discussions at Nabanna on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution criticising the Centre's move to withdraw central forces from the strife-torn Hills.

Three Gorkha Janamukti Morcha MLAs, Amar Singh Rai, Rohit Sharma and Sarita Rai, attended the meeting and consented to this resolution. Their party , however, had not only written to the Union home minister Rajnath Singh appealing for the withdrawal of central forces but also dashed in a "congratulatory message" once it was done.

For the others, the primary takeaway was a commitment that the state will not consider the absence of state -and GTA employees -from offices in the 104 days of agitation as a "break in service". This in effect means the employees will be getting their salaries and other statutory dues even if they stayed away from work during the GJM-sponsored indefinite strike. The state, however, said it was examining the other two key demands -compensating the 12 persons killed and 50 others injured in the agitation and withdrawing criminal cases against the bandh enforcers.

While it's still not clear whether the Mamata Banerjee government has driven a wedge between the MLAs and their party leader (read the Bimal Gurung faction), their attendance in the meeting on Monday appeared in sharp contrast to their party leader's disregard for the ongoing bilateral discussions.

The chief minister said, "This meeting was very cordial and fruitful. They represent political parties, GTA and are public representatives themselves. They (read the Centre) speak to people who've criminal cases. But they do not speak to public representatives." She, however, didn't elaborate on the Centre's efforts to reach out to the state and other stakeholders on Darjeeling. "They have not told us anything yet," she said.

This wasn't all. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee clearly indicated that barring "one or two people", all stakeholders, who attended the meeting, strongly pitched for peace. She said the resolution condemned the manner in which a young police officer was killed and stressed that there was "no place for violence in the Hills".

The chief minister said, "This meeting was very cordial and fruitful. They represent political parties, GTA and are public representatives themselves. They (read the Centre) speak to people who've criminal cases. But they do not speak to public representatives." She, however, didn't elaborate on the Centre's efforts to reach out to the state and other stakeholders on Darjeeling. "They have not told us anything yet," she said.

This wasn't all. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee clearly indicated that barring "one or two people", all stakeholders, who attended the meeting, strongly pitched for peace. She said the resolution condemned the manner in which a young police officer was killed and stressed that there was "no place for violence in the Hills".