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Kolkata / Siliguri: Days after the Centre appointed former deputy national security advisor Pankaj Kumar Singh as an interlocutor to hold discussions on the issues relating to Gorkhas in north Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee termed d the decision as “shocking” and “unilateral” while requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke the appointment.
“I am surprised and shocked to know that the centre has appointed Pankaj Kumar Singh, IPS (Retd) as an interlocutor to hold discussions on the issues relating to Gorkhas in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars regions of West Bengal. This appointment has been made without any consultation with the West Bengal government. Such unilateral action is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperative federalism that forms one of the foundational principles of our Constitution,” Banerjee wrote in her letter to Modi on Saturday.
On Friday, Raju Bista, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Bengal’s Darjeeling seat, had claimed that the Centre has appointed Singh as the interlocutor to take forward talks “concerning north Bengal”.
This becomes important because state assembly elections are due in West Bengal in 2026.
The BJP has been winning the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat since 2009. Before every election the party promised a permanent political solution to the Gorkhaland issue and scheduled tribe status for 11 Gorkha communities.
“Any unilateral action in this sensitive matter will not be in the interest of peace and harmony in the region. I would therefore request you to kindly reconsider and revoke this appointment order issued without prior and due consultation with the state government,” Banerjee wrote in the two-page letter.
The Centre’s decision evoked mixed reactions in the hills. While BJP allies Bimal Gurung, president of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and Mann Ghising, president of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), welcomed the Centre’s decision, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrk Morcha (BGPM), which runs the semi-autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), called it a “dilly dally tactic.”
Gurung said: “A permanent solution under the Constitution is not only vital for the region for protecting the rights of the Gorkha community but also essential for the overall progress and prosperity of the entire region and the people. We also request other political parties and social organisations from our region to welcome this positive development.”
Ghising said: “The decision to appoint an interlocutor will open the ways to find a permanent political solution to the long-pending demands of the Gorkhas.”
BGPM general secretary Amar Lama said: “The BJP and its alliance partners have claimed for a long time that the Centre is about to solve the Gorkha issues. The appointment of an interlocutor is yet another example of how the BJP-led central government has not done anything so far to fulfil its promise.”
“The state government didn’t attend the tri-partite meeting held by the Centre on October 12, 2021 and April 4, 2025. In such a situation the appointment of an interlocutor is the right move to engage all stakeholders including the state government. I appeal to the chief minister to rethink her move,” said Roshan Giri, general secretary of GJM.
The BJP has hit back saying that talks were held at the administrative level and hence what the chief minister was saying was untrue.
“If the chief minister thinks that the Prime Minister would come down to hold discussions with her before appointing an interlocutor, then it is her mistake. Talks were certainly held at the administrative level. Hence the chief minister’s claims are untrue,” Rahul Sinha, BJP leader, told the media.
