Are grassroots growing back in North Bengal?

A demand by certain sections of the hills people for land based on identity and language

- DOLA MITRA

Are the tides in the northern districts of the state of West Bengal already turning in favoring of the Trinamool less than a year to the Parliamentary elections of 2024? It would seem that way just from the criticism that Trinamool's chief political rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is receiving from their traditional supporters in the hills. In fact, they include their own party members and even elected legislators.

Congress, go before Take for instance, the recent comments by Neeraj Zimba, the BJP's MLA from the Darjeeling constituency, who is also the general secretary of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). Taking on his own party, he had said last month that as the ruling party at the Center, it had promises to keep as far as the hills people were concerned. Part of the promise was to arrive at a "permanent political solution" to the problems of the hills, including that of meeting a demand by certain sections of the hills people for land based on identity and language.