The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which has been holding agitations in Darjeeling and other hill areas of West Bengal to press for a separate Gorkhaland, on Tuesday approached the Centre with its demand but got a lukewarm response.A GJM delegation, led by its general secretary Roshan Giri, called on Home Minister Shivraj Patil and presented him with a memorandum asking for a separate Gorkhaland and a map of the proposed state.Patil, on his part, reminded the delegation of the constitutional position according to which any such demand has to come in the form of a resolution adopted by the state Assembly and asked GJM to convince the Left Front-ruled West Bengal Government about their case.While Patil told the delegation that the Centre was not averse to holding tripartite talks, as has been suggested by the GJM, he made it clear that such talks could happen only with the consent of the state Government.Roshan Giri, however, was not disappointed with the outcome and said he was happy that he was able to put forward his organisation’s viewpoint before the Home Minister.“We told him that a separate state of Gorkhaland was related to the identity of the Gorkha population. The creation of a separate state is the only solution to the problems being faced by the Gorkhas,” Giri told The Indian Express.“No amount of autonomy is going to do any good to us. Autonomy is not the answer,” he said.Later, in the evening, Giri also called on BJP leader L K Advani at his residence and apprised him of the Gorkhas’ demand. He said Advani gave him a patient hearing and asked for relevant books and documents to study their case.During his talks with Patil, the issue of blockade of the highway linking Sikkim also came up. Because of GJM’s agitation in Darjeeling, Sikkim has been cut off from the rest of the country. This had affected the supplies of essential items to the state. The Centre appealed to the GJM to ensure that the highway is not blocked and people were not made to suffer because of the agitation.
