Delhi to Morcha: End strike... Centre do not have any plans to hold talks on the statehood agenda ....

TT, Aug. 13: Union home minister Rajnath Singh today told the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and other hill organisations to withdraw the indefinite strike and allow normality to return to Darjeeling.

Rajnath also advised a six-member delegation of the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC), a platform of political and apolitical organisations, and the Mamata Banerjee government to hold talks.

The appeal suggested that the Centre did not have any plans to hold talks on the statehood agenda, the main demand of the hill parties. The disappointment of the Morcha was manifest in an assertion by a leader in Darjeeling that the strike would continue.

For the Morcha, the meeting with Rajnath, at best, provided the optics it was looking for. In an appeal, the Union home minister said the state government "should restore all civil supplies... Internet services, cable TV and local channels".

Other than this, the Centre has put the ball in the Morcha's court, asking it to call off the strike and opt for talks, almost echoing the Bengal government.

Mamata has more than once offered to hold talks, provided violence is shunned and the strike is called off. The chief minister renewed the offer last week through a statement tabled in the Assembly but the Morcha said it did not receive any direct communication.

Expectations had risen in the hills of a breakthrough following a media release by Morcha chief Bimal Gurung last night announcing today's "talks".

A Union home ministry source had said yesterday an appointment might have been given to submit a memorandum to the minister.

Today, the official announcement in Delhi referred to the memorandum. "The delegation submitted a memorandum of their demands to the Union home minister," a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau said.

A home ministry official said that "considering their persistent phone calls and request for a meeting, the home minister had agreed to meet them today. He was also very concerned with the crisis in Darjeeling". The delegation was accompanied by BJP leader and Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia, who had drawn flak in the hills for the Centre's hands-off policy so far.

Rajnath said in his statement: "I appeal to the GJM and all other stakeholders to call off the hunger strike, and also to withdraw the bandh call, allowing normalcy to return to the area. It is a move that will help to create an atmosphere for finding a solution to the current crisis. I also appeal to West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee to initiate a dialogue with the GJM and other stakeholders of Darjeeling, who are on a strike for the last 60 days."

The Morcha was hoping that the meeting would yield something substantial - such as the date for a tripartite meeting scheduled by the Centre -that would keep up the morale of the ranks.

"We told him (Rajnath) that we have come here to hold discussions only on the agenda of Gorkhaland and we don't want to talk over any other issue. He told us that there were no concrete plans to hold talks and that we should start discussion with the Bengal government," Tilak Chand Roka, a senior Morcha leader, said over the phone from Delhi.

The other members of the delegation were Morcha leaders Kalyan Dewan and Swaroj Thapa, N.B. Chhetri of the GNLF, Dawa Pakhrin of the Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Manch and Arun Ghatani of the CPRM.

Asked about the response to Rajnath's appeal to hold talks with the Bengal government, Roka said: "We told him that the GMCC needs to hold a meeting to take a decision."

Binay Tamang, the assistant general secretary of the Morcha, said in Darjeeling: "The meeting was inconclusive. That is why we will continue the indefinite strike as well as the hunger strike."

Sources said the Morcha and other constituents of the GMCC were in a quandary on their future course.

On the one hand, the state is continuing with its strict stand. On the other, a clear message has come from the Union home minister that the Centre has no plans to hold meetings on the demand.

"It is a tight situation for them. The state's strategy of not blinking has worked, as is obvious from the central government's stand. It would be interesting to see how the hill parties now react to the state government's call to join talks," said a retired state government official, who had earlier negotiated with the Morcha on the issue of Gorkhaland.

Harka grievance

Harka Bahadur Chhetri's Jana Andolan Party has decided to write to the GMCC seeking to know why it was not included in the delegation that met Rajnath in Delhi today.

"This is an unexpected behaviour on the part of the GMCC. They cannot pick and choose whom to invite or not to in this manner. They have to make their position clear. If they don't want us, they have to say so," he said.