Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi opposing appointment of interlocutor for Gorkhaland issue

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, has once again written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the decision of the Union government to appoint former Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) and former Director General of the Border Security Force, Pankaj Kumar Singh, as an interlocutor for the tripartite talks over a permanent political solution to the longstanding demand for a separate Gorkhaland statehood, forking out the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong, and the parts of the plans in the Terai and Dooars regions in north Bengal.

This is the second letter sent from the Chief Minister to Prime Minister Modi raising the state government’s objections regarding this issue.

Earlier, on October 18 this year, Chief Minister Banerjee had forwarded her first letter to the Prime Minister in the matter.

In the letter written on Monday, the Chief Minister also accused the Union Ministry of Home Affairs of ignoring her earlier objections in the matter by allowing the office of the interlocutor to start functioning.

“Kindly refer to my letter dated October 18, 2025, requesting you to reconsider and revoke the appointment of a retired IPS officer as the interlocutor for the issues relating to Gorkhas in Darjeeling hills, which your office had promptly acknowledged and advised the Union Home Minister to look into. It is a grave concern that, without any prior communication in response to my letter and despite your kind intervention, the office of the interlocutor under the Ministry of Home Affairs has, vide memo dated November 10, 2025, communicated that the office of the interlocutor has already started functioning. This is really shocking,” the letter said.

In the letter, the Chief Minister had described the development as a “unilateral” and “arbitrary” move on the part of the Union government, which, according to her, was wholly unconstitutional and devoid of any legal sanctity.

“The said order had no foundation either in the Constitution of India or in any valid statutory provision,” the Chief Minister claimed in her letter.

According to Chief Minister Banerjee, the appointment of an interlocutor to deal with issues already governed by a valid state law was a blatant encroachment upon the federal structure of the country and also was an assault on the autonomy of West Bengal.

“Such actions strike at the very heart of cooperative federalism, which forms one of the basic features of the Indian Constitution,” the Chief Minister’s letter added.

She had also accused the Union government of not furnishing any explanation or jurisdiction that has been furnished by it for this extraordinary and unwarranted step.

IANS