Hill TMC still in grip of confusion

TT, 10 January 2018, Siliguri: Confusion continues to prevail among Trinamul leaders and workers in the Darjeeling hills as state leaders are yet to pass i a clear directive as to whether they should resume political activities in the hills.

In the past six months, Mamata Banerjee's party has not taken up any political activity in hills. In fact, the leaders and workers have been asked to lie low and do not initiate any political move in an overt manner.

On Tuesday, the hill leaders met state ministers Aroop Biswas and Gautam Deb at the PWD inspection bungalow and there were discussions on a series of issues, including the party's organisation and activities in hills.

None of the ministers, sources said, came out with any clear directive. "They obtained information about the Mirik municipality which is being run by our party and also inquired about the current state of affairs in the hills," said a source.

In the hills, after the agitation for the statehood had started, political parties other than the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha like ABGL and the Jan Andolan Party had initiated activities. Even the GNLF that had been rarely hosting public programmes since 2007, that is since the emergence of the Morcha, had also started activities.

After the strike and agitation were withdrawn, such activities continued in the hills.

Trinamul, however, refrained from holding any political programme. That the party is still not willing to resume activities in hills was evident from the brief remark of Aroop Biswas. When he was asked about the issue, Biswas dodged a direct reply.

"We have our organisation in the hills... political activities are conducted there," was all that he said.

Such restraint on the part of Trinamul, which is quite opposite to the aggressive stance that the party had adopted ahead of the hill civic polls last year, indicates that Mamata Banerjee wants to stay out of the political arena of hills.

"Trinamul leaders probably want to give some more time for things to settle in hills," said a veteran in hill politics.