Gorkhaland dispute: Ahead of Bengal polls, why Pankaj Singh is Centre’s choice of interlocutor
He spent a lot of time in Central deputation in West Bengal, balancing demands of his policing job with expectations of govt, while handling sensitive issues from cattle smuggling to Bangladesh, to alleged Pannun assassination plot

The decision to appoint retired Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer Pankaj Singh as interlocutor for talks on the Gorkhaland issue has become yet another bone of contention between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal and the Centre.
A 1988-batch IPS officer and an old Bengal hand for Delhi, Singh was appointed in 2020 as Additional Director General in the Eastern Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, which has been laying emphasis on checking cow “smuggling” across the border. In 2021, the BSF claimed to have brought it down by 87% since 2015.
In August 2021, Singh was elevated as Director General (DG) of the BSF and, within two months, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) increased the jurisdiction of the BSF from 15 km to 50 km in border districts. The move drew sharp reactions from the West Bengal government, which called it an attack on the federal structure and “an attempt to curtail the rights of the state police”.
Last week too, after Singh was appointed interlocutor for talks on the Gorkhaland issue, Banerjee was quick to respond. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she urged him to revoke the Centre’s “unilateral decision” which had “surprised and shocked” her.
Sources said the reason for Singh’s appointment is his experience in West Bengal as an officer of the Union government.
Apart from the BSF, much of the latter part of Singh’s career as Central deputation has been spent in West Bengal, where he was also posted as IG, CRPF, in Naxal-affected regions. He later served in Chhattisgarh before moving to Delhi as IG, Operations — a position that also placed Bengal’s Naxal-hit areas under his jurisdiction.
MHA sources said that during his tenure as ADG and DG BSF, his conduct and leadership in West Bengal and elsewhere had impressed the government. “The BSF jurisdiction was a tricky issue but he handled it very well. While he followed the directions issued by the Centre, he did not let it blow up into a confrontation with the state government on the ground. In fact, though political noises kept being made on the issue, the BSF and the state police coordinated well on the ground following the increased jurisdiction,” an MHA official said.
He was also instrumental in including women BSF personnel in the acrobatic motorcycle show during the Republic Day parade. This was followed by a nationwide tour by the BSF’s women motorcycle riders.
His idea to celebrate the BSF Raising Day in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, in 2021 appealed to the government so much that it later directed all paramilitary forces and even the Army to hold their foundation and raising days outside Delhi.
What sets Singh apart, sources said, is his ability to balance the complexities of policing with the political expectations of the government. “He can achieve the government’s objectives without ruffling feathers on either side. He is polished, suave, sincere and hard working. More importantly, he does not let his personal opinion of the government, politician or an officer come in the way of his work. In fact, most of us never knew what his personal opinions were,” said an officer who has worked with him.
It was perhaps for this reason that he was appointed to the sensitive position of Deputy National Security Advisor in January 2023, a month after his retirement. The government’s trust in his ability to negotiate sensitive and complex matters was evident again in December 2024, when the Centre chose him to lead a three-member team to the US following an alleged assassination attempt on Khalistani separatist and US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun that threatened to blow up into a diplomatic snafu.
Singh’s team is learnt to have engaged with sleuths of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over allegations that an Indian RAW agent was involved in planning the attack.
However, many point out that Singh’s repeated engagement by the government post-retirement also can’t be delinked from his pedigree. “One must not forget that he is the son of illustrious IPS officer Prakash Singh. Prakash ji was both the UP DGP and the BSF DG, a chair that his son also got. Even post retirement, Prakash Singh continues to be an influential voice on policing and is known to have good relations with the current regime,” an officer said.
An LLB and MPhil holder, who is also an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Singh has served in the Rajasthan Police as well as in the CBI, where he cracked an infamous Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal, besides investigating several corruption cases.