Gurung meets Union Home minister to set PPS ball rolling

Amitava Banerjee, MP, 14 Sept 2024, DARJEELING: A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) team, presently camping in Delhi, had a meeting with Union Home minister Amit Shah, ‘to set the Permanent Political Solution ball rolling.’ 

Dubbing the 35 minutes long meeting successful, the GJM team on their return from Delhi is scheduled to hold a central committee meeting followed by a meeting of regional parties to chalk out the modalities of the Permanent Political Solution (PPS.) 

The BJP, in the party election manifesto during the 2019 general elections, had assured a permanent political solution for the long standing Gorkha impasse. They had also assured the inclusion of 11 Gorkha sub communities ‘left out’ in the scheduled tribe list. 

Despite winning decisively with the support of Hill regional parties, the BJP failed to fulfill their commitments. 

Again in 2024, the BJP party, garnering support of the regional party reiterated their assurances of a PPS and inclusion of 11 Gorkha communities in the ST list. This time too, the BJP candidate Raju Bista won the general election from the Darjeeling constituency, backed by Hill regional parties including the GJM, Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF,) Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist and others. 

A meeting took place with the honorable Home minister of India, Amit Shah at the Union minister’s residence in Delhi on Thursday at 9pm. The delegation primarily focused on the fulfillment of promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the Indian Gorkhas. 

They emphasised the need to grant tribal status to the eleven communities mentioned in the BJP’s election manifesto and resolution letter, as well as the importance of finding a permanent political solution for the Gorkhas, informed a release from Gurung. 

“The Home minister stated that the BJP is aware of all the issues concerning Darjeeling, the Terai, and the Dooars regions and assured that the problems would be addressed progressively in accordance with the country’s situation. He also mentioned that the Indian government would soon call for a special discussion on the matters concerning Darjeeling, Terai, and Dooars,” claimed the release. 

“Different regional parties have interpreted the PPS in different ways. While the GNLF have talked of the 6th Schedule status for the Hills, some regional parties want these parts to be merged with Sikkim. The Union Home minister stressed that the regional parties should come to a consensus and give a proposal as to what they want as the PPS. 

The GJM central committee will be meeting on Sunday in Darjeeling. This could be followed by an all-party meeting called by Gurung to discuss the outlines of PPS,” stated Noman Rai, Youth Morcha president, talking to the Millennium Post. 

The five member delegation led by Gurung that met the Union Home minister on Thursday included general secretary Roshan Giri; Youth Morcha president Noman Rai; Central Committee member Arjun Chettri, and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista. With the delay in implementation of the PPS, many of the alliance political outfits backing the BJP have expressed discontent. GNLF has embarked on a black flag campaign in the Hills against the delay. 

Courtesy & source: Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/gurung-meets-union-home-minister-toset-pps-ball-rolling-579615