Mamata Banerjee, Pawan Chamling bury hatchet; to focus on mutual development

Pawan Chamling’s letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on June 22, 2017, supporting the movement for Gorkhaland had soured Bengal-Sikkim relations for several months.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with her Sikkim counterpart Pawan Kumar Chamling in Siliguri on Friday. (Express Photo)

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Sikkim counterpart Pawan Kumar Chamling jointly announced on Friday that the two neighbouring states would work together for mutual development. The meeting of the chief ministers marked an end to a breach of relations after Chamling openly declared his support for a separate state of Gorkhaland last year. When viewed together with the Supreme Court’s verdict against pro-Gorkhaland GJM faction leader Bimal Gurung on Friday, political analysts called it a “double victory” for Mamata. Gurung had sought protection from arrest in several cases lodged against him in West Bengal and for an independent probe into the alleged killings of Gorkhaland supporters in the state.

Chamling’s letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on June 22, 2017, supporting the movement for Gorkhaland had soured Bengal-Sikkim relations for several months. “Sikkim will give full cooperation to Bengal and Bengal will give us full cooperation for Sikkim’s development. They (Sikkim) are not going to give support to them (Gurung faction) and we will work together. We will make a new start from today,” the chief minister said on Friday at the joint press conference. The two chief ministers spoke for over 40 mins in Siliguri before holding a joint press conference.

Chamling too said both states will co-operate for development in Darjeeling, Sikkim and West Bengal. “Our discussion was on development, and whatever misunderstandings there were, they have become past. We will work together for a better future,” Chamling said. However, despite being asked repeatedly, Mamata refused to comment on Gurung and declined to give an answer on by when she expects Gurung to be arrested. “I will not comment anything on this matter,” she said.

On the occasion, Chamling also invited Mamata to visit Sikkim. “I will surely go to Sikkim, since I love mountains and I love Sikkim. But you will also have to come to Kolkata,” Mamata responded. Binay Tamang, chairman of the Board of Administrators of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and a confidante of Mamata said that after the Supreme Court verdict, the roads are all clear for the state government to arrest Gurung.

After Chamling’s support for the Gorkhaland movement while it was in progress, Mamata too had written to Rajnath, lodging her protest. At the ground level, vehicles with West Bengal license plates were stopped by pro-Gorkhaland supporters at NH-31A — the only highway connecting Bengal with Sikkim. On the other hand, vehicles bearing Sikkim registration numbers were vandalised in Siliguri.

Mamata and other ministers of her Cabinet had made statements holding Sikkim responsible for the stir in the Hills and alleged that Gurung was given shelter in the neighbouring state after police began searching for him in several cases. In January, the state government had decided to cancel a transport agreement which allowed commercial vehicles from Sikkim to ply in Bengal.

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