Kolkata, Dec 20 (IANS) Cautioning the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leadership that the situation may turn “critical” if it maintained a rigid stance on the Gorkhaland issue, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said dialogue was the best possible way to solve the matter.
Speaking to mediapersons a day ahead of the tripartite talks scheduled to be held in West Bengal’s northern hill resort of Darjeeling, Mukherjee said: “There is no such problem which cannot be solved through dialogue. Dialogue can solve the Gorkhaland issue. Having dialogue will ensure exchange of ideas which indeed will be helpful.”

Responding to a journalist’s comment that the GJM was still adamant in its demand for a separate state, the veteran minister said: “If anyone is adamant on a demand and not flexible enough, the situation may turn critical.”

Mukherjee added that Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram shared the same view.

“Chidambaram also feels that dialogue is the best possible way for sorting out the Gorkhaland issue. He has already spoken to the GJM leadership in this regard,” he added.

The GJM and representatives of the central government and officials of the West Bengal government will hold tripartite talks in a private hotel in Darjeeling town Monday to find an acceptable formula for resolving the crisis which has plunged vast areas in the northern part of the state into chaos.

The GJM has been spearheading a movement for Gorkhaland, besides opposing special status to the hill governing body, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

The stir seems to have got a fillip after the central government conceded the demand for Telengana state to be formed out of 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The central government in 2005 offered the Sixth Schedule status to the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF)-led Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), ensuring greater autonomy to the governing body.

The GJM organised indefinite shutdowns twice in the hills last year and once in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls this year, severely hitting tea, timber and tourism - the bread and butter of the region.