Hill people skeptical about BJP delivering on promise, but will watch the Budget session of Parliament’

YAWAN GURUNG, EOI, MIRIK, JANUARY 12, 2024 :  Political circles in the hills are not convinced with the assurance of Gorkha National Liberation Front President Mann Ghisingh after his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this week that the BJP will deliver on its promise before the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. 

Even BJP M.P. from Darjeeling Raju Bista who was present in the meeting has not been categorical in his assurance. Even then, people are watching the outcome of the meeting seriously. Political expert and former BJP leader from Mirik Santosh Rasaili who had recently been expelled from the party is one such observer who is having his fingers crossed. “If the BJP wants to give anything, what is the need for this meeting, when the election is knocking at the door,” he asks. 

“Was the Union Home Minister not aware of the issues concerning the Darjeeling hills all these years? If the BJP had really wanted to give something to the hills, they could have done it in all these years. They have the majority in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. 

Even the President and the Vice President of the country have excellent relations with the BJP. They didn’t have to wait for the elections to fulfil their promises.” 

Rasaili says people of the hills will now have to ponder whom to vote for in the ensuing election. 

“There is nothing to say if one votes for meeting your daily needs. But if one is really concerned with the issue of the community, then one has to ponder.” He thinks the BJP should not have faced any problem finding a permanent political solution for the problems of the Gorkha community. It is like playing with the sentiments of the Gorkha community to refer to the problems before the vote. 

Rasaili thinks the meeting of Mann Ghisingh, Raju Bista and Hill BJP president Kalyan Dewan was nothing but a “photo session.” Still he is ready to wait for Parliament to pass a Bill on a permanent political solution for the hills in the coming Budget session of Parliament. “Such a move can be welcomed.” 

But the hills cannot wait for the issue to be taken for consideration after the elections are over, he says.