Amit Shah meets Gorkha leaders in Darjeeling, MHA panel to draft ‘permanent political solution’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday held a crucial meeting with senior Gorkha leaders and West Bengal government representatives at Sukna in the Darjeeling foothills, signalling a fresh push to resolve the long-standing political issue in the hills.

The meeting, held on the final day of Shah’s three-day north Bengal visit, brought together West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, GNLF chief Mann Ghisingh, GJM leader Roshan Giri, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, state ministers, BJP MLAs from the hills and senior government officials.

The central agenda was the BJP’s long-standing promise of a ”permanent political solution” for Darjeeling and the Gorkha community within the constitutional framework.

After the meeting, BJP MP Raju Bista described it as a historic moment and said the Centre had now moved towards formally drafting an agreement.

“Today is a truly historic day for the Gorkha community and for Darjeeling… On behalf of the entire delegation, we apprised the Home Minister of the suffering endured by the people of Darjeeling and the Terai over the last two years and the struggles of the past 40 years.”

Bista said Shah listened to the concerns raised by the delegation and outlined a roadmap for the resolution of the issue.

“A committee comprising a team from the Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Pankaj Kumar Singh, has been constituted to finalise the drafting of today’s agreement.”

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BJP MP Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the meeting had “paved the way for a positive outcome”, adding that the process of finding a solution to the Gorkhaland issue had now begun.

“The process of finding the solution we seek regarding the Gorkhaland issue has now begun. A committee is to be formed… under the leadership of our Gorkhaland interlocutor, Pankaj, to examine the matter in detail.”

Shringla, however, said, “No specific timeframe could be stated, as this is just the beginning; we cannot say anything definitive right now.”

The development is significant because the Gorkhaland demand has remained unresolved for decades. The demand for a separate political and administrative identity for the Nepali-speaking Gorkha population of the Darjeeling hills predates Independence, while the term “Gorkhaland” gained prominence during the agitation led by GNLF founder Subhash Ghising in the 1980s.

The agitation of 1986-88 turned violent, eventually culminating in the 1988 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord between the Centre, the West Bengal government and GNLF. The agreement led to the creation of the semi-autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, with the separate-state demand effectively set aside at the time. The accord was signed on August 22, 1988 — making Saturday’s meeting particularly significant as it coincided with its anniversary.

But the DGHC did not end the demand for Gorkhaland. Political discontent returned, and in 2007 Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha emerged as a major force pushing for statehood. After another prolonged agitation, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was created in 2011-12 as a new autonomous administrative arrangement for the hills.

The GTA, however, stopped short of granting statehood. The core demand for a separate Gorkhaland has therefore continued to influence elections and political negotiations in the hills.

That is what makes the latest move significant: rather than announcing a separate state, the Centre is now signalling a fresh constitutional arrangement, with the Home Ministry committee expected to work on the details of the proposed agreement.

For the BJP, the issue also carries political weight. The party has repeatedly promised a ”permanent political solution” to the Darjeeling hills, while maintaining that the resolution would be within the Indian constitutional framework.

The meeting also comes amid renewed political attention to the wider Darjeeling-Terai-Dooars region and its strategic importance.

Later on Saturday, Shah is scheduled to chair a high-level meeting on the Siliguri Corridor, the strategically vital land link connecting mainland India with the Northeast. Senior officials from the BSF, SSB, Intelligence Bureau, West Bengal Police and other state and Central agencies are expected to participate.

For the Gorkha leadership, however, the immediate question is whether the newly constituted Home Ministry panel can finally translate decades of political assurances into a concrete settlement — and whether that settlement can address the aspirations that the DGHC and GTA failed to resolve.