Mann Ghisingh, the president of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), has appealed to the BJP-led central government to come up with a permanent political solution for the hills ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections of Bengal.

“We hope that a comprehensive political solution for the hills will become a reality before the 2026 Assembly elections. To reach such a solution, we appeal to the Government of India to initiate talks immediately,” said Mann in a news release on Wednesday.

The GNLF leader also pointed out that the BJP leadership couldn’t undermine the fact that the GNLF had been an ally of theirs for the past one-and-a-half decades.

Since 2009, the BJP has won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat four times on the trot.

One of the key reasons for the wins was that the saffron party piggybacked on regional forces such as the GNLF while assuring people that their longstanding demand for a permanent political solution would be considered by its government at the Centre.

However, there has been no development on the issue so far in these 16 years.

Despite repeated assurances by Raju Bista, the sitting BJP MP of Darjeeling, it is evident that the GNLF leadership, who had extended support to the BJP, is
under duress.

“The ruling dispensation of Bengal (Trinamool) and its allies like the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (headed by Anit Thapa) have time and again accused the BJP of making empty promises. Now that the Assembly polls will be due in a year, it is evident that regional parties like the GNLF will have to answer to the hill people,” said a political veteran in the hills.

“That is why, it seems, the GNLF leadership is flagging the political solution issue to drive home the point that they are exerting pressure on the BJP,” he added.

In his appeal, Mann has also stated that they wanted the Centre to initiate talks ahead of April 5, when the GNLF observes its foundation day.

“We urge the Government of India to immediately resume dialogue and take decisive steps towards determining a long-term political solution for the Gorkha community and the Darjeeling hills,” Mann said in the release.

The son of the late Subash Ghisingh, who is till date remembered as the political patriarch in the hills, also referred to the proposal to confer the Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills that was mooted by his late father around 20 years back.

“The failure to implement the Sixth Schedule in our region remains a significant and grave mistake, resulting in the increasingly complex issues that we face today,” the GNLF leader stated in his release.