A reference to Gorkhaland in a letter from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Darjeeling MP Raju Bista sparked a political row in West Bengal, with the ruling Trinamool Congress alleging a “plot” to split the state. The BJP rejected the accusation as “baseless”.

The letter

According to BJP sources, Bista had written to Shah in July raising concern that Gorkhas were not covered by a special Delhi Police cell set up to tackle racist acts, especially against people from the northeast. In his reply, Shah said the concerns of people from the “Gorkhaland and Ladakh area” were being looked into.

TMC’s charge

Senior TMC leader and state minister Gautam Deb asked why Shah used the word, saying there was no place called Gorkhaland. He alleged the BJP was planning to divide Bengal after splitting Jammu and Kashmir, and said nobody could break the state while the TMC was there.

Bista’s response

Bista said the word had nothing to do with creating a separate state and that he was referring to residents of the area covered by the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an autonomous body responsible for the development of the Darjeeling hills. He told PTI the GTA was formed in 2011 through a tripartite agreement involving the TMC government, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and the then Congress-led Centre, and called the TMC’s objection “political hypocrisy”.

Background

The row followed the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370 provisions and create two Union Territories from Jammu and Kashmir. Some hill parties then demanded Union Territory status for Darjeeling. The hills have repeatedly seen violent agitations for a separate Gorkhaland state, most recently a 104-day strike in June 2017.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party and Lok Sabha members.

Originally published on 12 August 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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