Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee had promised she would solve the vexed Darjeeling Hills dispute within three months of coming to power. She appears to have done it in just three weeks.
The West Bengal chief minister managed to do this while keeping the state’s territorial unity intact. The agreement signed Tuesday between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri and state home secretary G.D. Gautama did not have any mention of “Gorkhaland”.
The dispute, which had flared alarmingly in the last two years of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, is a major success for Ms Banerjee. The Left Front sounded sceptical Tuesday. “The state government will have to make the agreement public. On what condition have they reached this deal? The content must be published as people have the right to know,” said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.
Ms Banerjee announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of GJM leaders and state officials: “The Darjee-ling matter has been settled. I informed P. Chidambaram a little while ago.”
She made the announcement at Writers’ Buildings with a beaming Mr Giri and other GJM leaders by her side.