No Darjeeling-based political party invited to Tuesday's National Democratic Alliance meeting

NDA meeting is expected to be chaired by BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba.: File picture

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, 18.07.23 :  A meeting of the National Democratic Alliance convened in New Delhi on Tuesday has revealed that none of the Darjeeling-based political parties which have been supporting the BJP since 2019 is part of the NDA.

The NDA meeting is expected to be chaired by BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, six hill parties — Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha (GRNM), Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) and SUMETI Mukti Morcha — had supported the BJP.

In 2020, the Morcha severed ties with the BJP. Until then, Morcha president Bimal Gurung had been invited to NDA meetings two times — in 2014 and 2017.

Leaders of the remaining five parties, which continue to support the BJP, told The Telegraph on Monday that they had not been invited to the meeting on Tuesday.

GNLF secretary general Neeraj Zimba, who was elected to the Assembly from Darjeeling on a BJP ticket, clarified that his party was not a constituent of the NDA. “We are not part of the NDA. In 2019, we were offered to be part of the NDA by Kailash Vijayvargiya but we did not accept it,” said Zimba.

Vijayvargiya was the BJP's minder for Bengal in 2019.

The GNLF leader added that BJP leaders had asked him whether their party would participate in Tuesday’s meeting.

“I wanted to convey this message to our party president (Mann Ghisingh) but I have not been able to contact him for the past two days,” said Zimba.

The fact that no hill party was invited to the NDA meeting, which even Zimba admitted was “interesting,” raised questions on whether proper information regarding the relationship between the BJP and its hill allies was placed before the general public in the region.

“We have been an ally of the BJP since 2019 but are not part of the NDA,” stressed Zimba.

Other hill allies of the BJP also spoke on similar lines.

GRNM president Dawa Pakhrin said: “We had supported the BJP in 2019 at the last moment. We did not go to Delhi to stitch an alliance. We are not too concerned (about being in the NDA) as our focus is only on Gorkhaland. They probably did not call (the hill parties) as there are many parties (supporting the BJP from Darjeeling).”

The GRNM leader said his party had decided not to contest municipality and panchayat elections and hence had not actively participated in the campaign for the recent rural polls.

ABGL leader Pratap Khati also gave a blunt answer. “It seems BJP heavyweights are not too bothered about a small place like Darjeeling at the moment.”

However, during elections, heavyweights, including Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, had campaigned in the region in the past.

The Tel;egraph