Bgpm Leader Anit Thapa Resigns From Gorkhaland Territorial Administration

ills and declared that the region would see development only under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.

Owning responsibility for BGPM’s defeat in the recent assembly elections, Thapaw, also resigned as a sabhasad (municipal councillor) of the GTA.

BGPM had won the 2022 GTA elections and formed the board in the semi-autonomous development body.

“Many people considered GTA as a hurdle to finding a permanent political solution to the Gorkha issues,” Thapa said in a social media post after his resignation.

In a video message, Thapa said, “People have high hopes in the new government regarding the aspirations of the Gorkhas. I request the new government to work on the long-pending expectations of the hill people and I have faith in the new government. I have lost (the election) and I have to take responsibility. I have to take big decisions. People feel that the GTA is a hurdle to the new political solution that is being planned for the hills”.

“I don’t want to go against the wishes of the people. If we cling to the GTA, the work for the new arrangement will be delayed further. They say they will launch an inquiry into the GTA. I welcome the move. Doing this will make things clearer. I am ready to face any kind of inquiry,” Thapa added.

Thapa’s aides later said he was under pressure to take the decision in view of the BJP’s victory in the assembly elections. His party had been an ally of the Trinamool Congress.

Thapa was sidelined from the day-to-day functioning of the GTA, and Raju Bista, BJP’s Darjeeling Lok Sabha MP, called the shots. Bista even chaired a recent administrative meeting of the GTA, and Thapa was not invited.

I am working with Hindustan Times since 2001 and am posted in Siliguri, West Bengal, as Principal Correspondent. I have been regularly covering vast area of northern parts of West Bengal, Sikkim and parts of Nepal and Bhutan.Read More