Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista set to meet Amit Shah, promises to top agenda

Getting appointments with the Union home minister is a tall task but the fact that Bista is being given an audience at regular intervals is an indication that the BJP is facing the heat

Raju Bista. : File image

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, 19.12.23 :  Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista will soon meet Union home minister Amit Shah for the third time within a fortnight, which shows that the BJP is on a sticky wicket ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as the party has failed to fulfil its promise of finding "a permanent political solution" for the hills.

Speaking to The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi on Monday, the MP said: “I will be meeting Union home minister Amit Shahji again this week. I am confident that our people and the region will definitely get justice.”

This would be Bista's third meeting with Shah in a fortnight.

Getting appointments with the Union home minister is a tall task but the fact that Bista is being given an audience at regular intervals is an indication that the BJP is facing the heat.

The BJP won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Jaswant Singh was the first BJP MP to be elected from Darjeeling in 2009, followed by S.S. Ahluwalia in 2014 and Raju Bista in 2019.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had promised to find "a permanent political solution (PPS)" for the hills and grant tribal status to 11 Gorkha communities.

Even though the BJP has not defined the PPS, most in the hills have interpreted the same as Gorkhaland state.

“I assure the people that I am working tirelessly to ensure that the people from our region, too, get to live a life of respect and dignity. I will not rest till our collective aspirations are fulfilled,” Bista said on Monday.

Sikkim chief minister P.S. Tamang (Golay) has also been lobbying the Centre to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Gorkha communities.

The 11 communities seeking the tribal status are Bhujel, Gurung, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai, Sunuwar, Thami, Yakka (Dewan) and Dhimal.

Last week, a team from Darjeeling comprising representatives of all the 11 communities had gone to Delhi to press for the demand.

The failure to fulfil the poll promises has put the hill leaders of the BJP in a spot of bother.

The heads of the BJP mandals in the Darjeeling hills recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president J.P. Nadda highlighting their awkwardness in facing common people because of the Centre's failure to deliver on its poll promises even after four-and-a-half years into the government.

“… with humble submission we would like to draw your kind attention towards your sincere commitment to the Gorkhas regarding permanent political solution and granting Schedule Tribe status for eleven Gorkha communities during the Lok Sabha election, 2019,” the letter signed by either the president or the secretary of 26 mandals in the hills and the Terai read.

“Being Mandals of the prestigious Bharatiya Janata Party, every citizen questions us regarding our popular slogan ‘Gorkha’s Dream My Dream.’ Our great hope is still with you Adarniya Pradhan Mantri Ji, please kindly solve our long pending aspirations before the end of the year 2023,” the letter to Modi reads.

Courtesy & source- The Telegraph