The northern districts of West Bengal voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as well as the 2021 state assembly polls—making the region, more or less, a BJP bastion. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won all the northern constituencies and won a majority of the state assembly seats in the region in 2021. To challenge BJP’s stronghold, the Trinamool Congress has renewed its efforts in the northern region.
Although Trinamool’s efforts beyond West Bengal haven’t been much successful, the party, apparently, is now working towards making political inroads into the northern seats of the state. Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was recently in Jalpaiguri district—about 615 km north of here—to try and connect with the audience, accepting his party’s flaws and making allegations against the BJP.
He also admitted that his party’s regional leadership failed the voters by not reaching out to the local populace.
As separate statehood is a major point of contention in the region: The Darjeeling hills, and the adjoining plains, have seen different factions raising similar demands in the past. The most prominent demand is for Gorkhaland, a separate state carved out of the region.
Banerjee used it to further his party’s cause: “BJP leaders in these districts want to divide Bengal. I want to tell the people that till the day Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is alive, Bengal will never be divided,” he said.
His remarks left it open for the BJP to come clear on this subject. Over the decades, much of the politics in the hills has revolved around the demand for regional autonomy.
Trinamool has been going all-out to convert the region in its favour. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attended the swearing-in ceremony of the recently elected members of Gorkhaland Territorial Sabha in Darjeeling hills. The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)—a new administrative body that replaced the erstwhile Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council—first went to polls in 2012. The most recent election, held on June 24, saw a significant change for the Trinamool when it made its presence felt in the hills after winning five seats in the GTA.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha and the Hamro Party hold the maximum seats in the GTA. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha—which won the election in 2012-0—and the BJP were against the latest elections.
The chief minister, while speaking at the event, said she wants progress and peace for the hills, and hailed that this kind of “peaceful election” had never been seen in the hills before.
She assured the people of employment opportunities and better infrastructure, but asked in return their “promise” to not support anyone who disturbed the peace in the region, as “regional economy” could only strengthen if there was peace.