PM in Siliguri on Dec 16: BJP leaders

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 05 Dec 2018, Siliguri: The Bengal BJP on Tuesday announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting in Siliguri on December 16, a day after the rath from Cooch Behar enters Darjeeling district.

"We have received verbal confirmation from the Prime Minister's Office that he (Modi) will be in Siliguri to address a public meeting on December 16. We hope to get the written confirmation soon. Also, our party president Amit Shah and the chief minister of Tripura would be present at another public meeting in Cooch Behar on December 7. They will also flag off the first rath from there on that day," said Sayantan Bose, a state general secretary of the BJP.

The announcement is an indication that the BJP intends to launch its campaign in Bengal for the Lok Sabha polls and take it to a crescendo by bringing its key campaigners to the state.In April 2014, ahead of the parliamentary polls that year, Siliguri had first seen and heard Narendra Modi during the campaign. He was again here in April 2016 ahead of Assembly elections.

"The Prime Minister is the principal campaigner for the BJP. The decision to select Siliguri as the meeting venue is significant and hints at the BJP's plan to try and revive its support base for the Darjeeling parliamentary seat, particularly in the hills," said an observer.

Since last year, particularly after the end of the threemonth-long shutdown and agitation, BJP has suffered a setback across the hills that corresponded with the descent of Bimal Gurung.

The emergence of Binay Tamang as the torchbearer of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha ­ the party that had helped BJP to win the seat in 2009 and 2014 polls ­ and his disinclination at BJP led to erosion in party's support base.

In fact, situation changed Narendra Modi to such an extent that local MP S.S. Ahluwalia has not visited the hills for over a year. In 2014, Modi had said "the dream of Gorkhas is my dream" without overtly speaking about the demand for separate statehood.

The saffron party however, had mentioned in its election manifesto that it would "sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demand of the Gorkhas." The demand however, has not been met so far and a discontentment is brewing within the hill population as they have twice voted BJP, pointed an observer. "There is a strong anti-Gorkhaland sentiment across the state and any explicit remark on the issue might jeopardise the party's plans. On the other hand, there is little chance that the hill population would buy any assurance unless it is specific. It would be interesting hear the Prime Minister as he must have some plans to revive support and retain the Darjeeling seat, without antagonising voters in other parts of Bengal," said a political expert.

"In 2014, he had mentioned about the dreams of Gorkhas. We want to know whether he has forgotten it. Also, in 2016, he had mentioned about conferring tribal status to 11 hill communities. We want him to meet both the demands first," said Suraj Sharma, spokesperson, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Additional Reporting by Sandip Chowdhury in Calcutta & Vivek Chhetri in Darjeeling.