West Bengal govt caused Hills shutdown, says Ram Madhav

Gangtok: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday squarely blamed the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal for the three-and-half months shutdown in the  Hills over the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. Mr Madhav, who was speaking to reporters at the Sikkim BJP office near here, repeatedly referred to the region as Gorkhaland.

“The Bengal government is responsible for the situation in Gorkhaland. Because of its cruel behaviour, the Gorkhaland issue is simmering,” he alleged.

Mr Madhav, who is also the party’s in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, said it is the West Bengal government’s responsibility to address the grievances of people to restore normalcy in Darjeeling. The GJM-led shutdown was called off on September 26 following requests by Union home minister Rajnath Singh.