Amit Shah Vows Permanent Political Settlement For Bengal's Darjeeling Hills

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated the commitment of the Centre to find a Permanent Political Solution to the longstanding issues of the Darjeeling hills, saying that a special committee will be constituted to finalise the details of an agreement in the Constitutional context.

He made this statement during a high-level interaction with representatives of political parties and organisations in the hill districts of West Bengal.

Issues related to the problems of the hill community, their demand for a distinct identity, constitutional status and political solution were discussed in detail during the meeting.

A special committee will be constituted under Pankaj Kumar Singh, former Deputy National Security Advisor and the central government's interlocutor for the hills. The committee will work on the modalities of the final agreement and work out the roadmap to the proposed settlement.

Details of the proposed settlement are yet to be made public.

Shah assured the representatives that other demands of the hill people will also be considered sympathetically and adequate financial assistance from the Centre will be provided for the purpose.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, central and state government officials, and prominent hill leaders. The hill leaders included BJP MPs Raju Bista and Harshvardhan Singla, GNLF president Mann Ghising, former chairman of the GJM Bimal Gurung, state minister Bishal Lama and several MLAs and representatives of regional organisations.

For decades, people residing in the hills of West Bengal have demanded more autonomy and constitutional protections. Despite several rounds of negotiations with successive governments, a settlement of the issues has not been achieved to date.