Fifteen years after voting for the BJP, the hills appear to be questioning the unmet promises of the party for the region.

Hill parties that had believed in the BJP are now comparing the attitudes of the saffron camp and the Congress towards Darjeeling.

During a citizen convention in Darjeeling on Sunday, leaders who supported the BJP rued its “apathy” towards Darjeeling hills.

“We had thought the BJP and the (Narendra) Modi government would stand solidly like a rock for us but this has not happened. The hills have supported the BJP for 15 years and this is a long time,” said Ajoy Edwards, the president of Hamro Party.

Edwards made a comparison between the BJP and Congress government at the Centre.

“During the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation, when our people were being suppressed by the state government, the BJP government at the Centre remained mute,” said Edwards.

The leader reminded the crowd that during the 1986 Gorkhaland agitation, then Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had intervened.

“When efforts were being made to term the demand anti-national in 1986, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said it was not anti-national,” Edwards said.

Rajiv Gandhi and his home minister Buta Singh’s visit to Darjeeling during those troubled times was also highlighted.

“Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the then home minister had visited Darjeeling during 1986. We are not trying to advocate for the Congress but the thoughts of the BJP government and Congress government towards the Gorkhas are getting clear,” said Edwards.

Prime Minister Modi has visited the region twice but to campaign for BJP candidates.

The autonomous hill bodies, Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration were formed for Darjeeling hills in 1988 and 2012, respectively, during the tenure of the Congress governments.

Y. Lama, the leader of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which is an ally of the BJP said: “Police cases were slapped against us.... but the party (BJP) has been indifferent to us.”

Arun Ghatani, the spokesperson of the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), another ally of the BJP in Darjeeling, said: “Our faith in BJP is slowly fading. If they don’t work for us even after our supporting them for 15 years, we will have no choice but to adopt a different route.”

The BJP promised tribal status to 11 hill communities and a permanent political solution for Darjeeling, the Dooars and the Terai region in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto.

The party did not define what “permanent solution” meant although most in
the hills interpreted it to be the state of Gorkhaland. Both the promises are unmet.