North BJP leaders play safe on motion

Kalyan Dewan, president, BJP Darjeeling (hills) committee, said resolution was passed for TMC’s political benefits

Avijit Sinha And Vivek Chhetri   |   TT  |  Darjeeling/Siliguri   |    21.02.23  : BJP leaders in the Darjeeling hills on Monday  batted for Gorkhaland and termed the Assembly resolution against Bengal’s division as an attempt to suppress the demand for the separate state, the party’s functionaries in the plains of north Bengal were evasive on the motion. 

Kalyan Dewan, the president, BJP Darjeeling (hills) committee, said the resolution was passed for Trinamul’s political benefits.

“Also, there is an attempt to psychologically demoralise the Gorkhas and to suppress the demand of Gorkhaland. The state government is aware of the statehood (demand) history and is trying to stop a constitutional arrangement (for the region), which is outside Bengal,” he said, as his party workers plastered posters across the Darjeeling hills against the resolution.

The BJP has promised a “permanent political solution” for Darjeeling without defining the structure.

Raju Bista, the Darjeeling MP, was equally critical of the ruling party in Bengal. “The TMC government has passed many anti-people and anti-national resolutions in the past few years. As most may recall, they passed a resolution against the CBI and ED operating in the state. They passed a resolution against farm laws, resolution against extension of BSF functions and jurisdiction and also a resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act,” claimed Bista.

In the plains, however, such aggressive opposition was absent from the BJP leaders, including its elected representatives.

Among the 15-odd leaders in different districts of north  Bengal, including district chiefs, MPs and MLAs, with whom The Telegraph spoke today, almost all were non-committal and dodged a direct reply as to whether they support or oppose the resolution.

Bhusan Modak, the Alipurduar district president, said by passing this resolution, Trinamul has drawn the strategy to malign all those who raise their voices for north Bengal.

“A number of legislators of our party have mentioned the lack of development in north Bengal and deprivation the region has faced for decades. We suspect that after passing this resolution, Trinamul will try to label all those as separatists whoever raises his voice on the issue,” he said.

BJP legislators like Debasree Chaudhuri (Raiganj MP) and Khagen Murmu (Malda North MP), spoke in similar lines.

“Trinamul is trying to create hype, stoke peoples’ sentiments and draw votes from them at the rural polls. This is because the party is ripped with financial scams and has failed to meet people’s aspirations,” said Chaudhuri.  

Ruden Sada Lepcha, the Kalimpong MLA of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha which is an ally of Trinamul, said: “The resolution is against the political stunt of the BJP. Some BJP leaders are claiming that a north Bengal state will be created and Trinamul is countering this stunt. It has nothing to do with Gorkhaland...”

The BJP is planning to hold a convention in Siliguri to demand the resignation of parliamentary affairs minister Sovandeb Chatterjee who used the word “influx” while he was speaking about the Gorkha community and referred to Adivasis as migrants during the debate in the House.

5 injured by leopards, elephants

Five persons got injured by leopards and elephants in three incidents in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling on Monday. 

State forest department teams, till late evening, were searching for the leopards and trying to steer the elephants back into the forest.

A leopard pounced on three tea workers in Jalpaiguri’s Malbazar. Another mauled a worker in Siliguri sub-division’s Taipoo tea estate. The leopards are missing. 

In Jalpaiguri’s Baroghoria, two elephants damaged farms and homes and injured a villager. 

Courtesy & Source- The Telegraph