A Left organisation has organised political programmes in the hill town of Darjeeling after several years.

The DYFI organised a march and a seminar in Darjeeling on Thursday to mark the 58th anniversary of Jubashakti, the mouthpiece of the CPM’s youth wing.

The seminar was held at GDNS hall in Darjeeling town. DYFI workers took out a procession also in the hill town.

The sudden activities of the DYFI have taken the residents of Darjeeling by surprise.

For years, the activities of the CPM had remained limited in the hills. Barring the Darjeeling Zilla Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union, affiliated to the CITU, the CPM’s presence was negligible in the hills.

Bengal CPM secretary Md Salim was the key speaker in the seminar. He accused the BJP and the Trinamool Congress of resorting to divisive politics and asked Mamata Banerjee whether her government could provide jobs to lakhs of migrant workers if they returned home.

“They (BJP) have always played the polarisation card to divide people so that they can secure votes. They have made hollow promises to tea garden workers, Rajbanshis and Gorkhas. Trinamool has adopted the same strategy,” Salim said.

He referred to the language issue as well.

“These days, the chief minister is vocal on the Bengali language and referring to the atrocities faced by the migrant workers from Bengal in other states. She also launched a ‘bhasha andolan (language movement)’. Let us be clear that whether it was in Bangladesh or Assam, the movement for the Bengali language was spearheaded against the policy of the then-Pakistan government and the Assam government. It was far different from what Mamata Banerjee has been doing,” Salim said.

The CPM politburo member tossed questions at the Trinamool government on the issue of employment.

“She (chief minister) has asked the migrants to return home…. Can she provide adequate jobs to them? It is because of a lack of employment that these people shifted to other states. Ever since she was voted to power, her government has hardly made any responsible and effective moves to create jobs in Bengal,” Salim, a former national secretary of the DYFI, said.