BJP Makes It Clear: Not In Favour Of Gorkhaland

The BJP has been in a fix over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state — a demand which was revived recently after the West Bengal government announced that Bengali would be a compulsory subject in all schools till Class X. By the time the state government clarified that it would not be compulsory, the damage was done. Tensions gripped the Darjeeling hills and the protests escalated to the demand for a separate state. Sources said the BJP cannot afford to support the creation of a separate Gorkhaland state — a region which is as small as “two-and-a-half assembly constituencies” in the border area.