GJM keeps talks door ajar for Congress

DARJEELING: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to keep the doors open for negotiations with Congress should BJP fail to make any headway on the
Gorkhaland issue. GJM president Bimal Gurung made this clear at a public meeting in Darjeeling on Wednesday.

This was the first time since BJP's Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh was expelled from his party that Gurung has clarified the GJM stand. With GJM's support, Singh pitched for Gorkhaland and managed to wrest the Darjeeling seat from Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. But after BJP's poor show in the polls and Singh's subsequent expulsion from the party over his book on Jinnah, the Gorkhaland demand has not been highlighted much in New Delhi's power corridors.

For the moment, however, GJM is not snapping its ties with BJP. "The Gorkhaland issue reached the mainstream after we tied up with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. But if BJP fails to respect our demand in future, our doors will be open for negotiations with other national political parties, including Congress," Gurung said. It is understood that Gurung has sent feelers to BJP that if the alliance is to survive, BJP must be more proactive about the Gorkhaland cause in Delhi as well as in Parliament.

Gurung admitted that after BJP's electoral reverses, it would not be possible to meet the 2010 deadline for the formation of Gorkhaland.

"It is unfortunate that BJP failed to come to power at the Centre. Otherwise, we would have definitely realized our vision and goal for a separate state," he rued.

He kept up the rhetoric, however, threatening to declare Darjeeling a separate state if the fourth round of tripartite talks scheduled in Darjeeling on December 21 fail to yield positive results. "I will see how the talks go. If they aren't fruitful, I will declare the Hills Gorkhaland," warned Gurung. The last round of talks were held in August but proved to be unsuccessful.

GJM celebrated its second Raising Day on Wednesday. Gurung asserted that GJM had managed to achieve things that other parties had failed to accomplish in 20 years. "We have done away with the Sixth Schedule, Subash Ghisingh and DGHC and taken the Gorkhaland cause to the national stage," he said.

Times of India