West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (November 17, 2025) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reiterating her request to the Union government to revoke the appointment of a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer as an interlocutor for holding discussions on issues related to the Gorkhas of the Darjeeling hills.
This is the second letter by Ms. Banerjee to Mr. Modi on the issue. Earlier, on October 18, 2025 the Chief Minister had written a similar letter to the Prime Minister, expressing her reservations over the appointment of the interlocutor.
“The present move by the Central government is not only unconstitutional but it also appears to be a politically motivated attempt to disturb the peace and stability of the region. The Government of West Bengal categorically rejects and strongly objects to this unconstitutional, arbitrary, and politically coloured interference in the internal affairs of the State,” the CM wrote on Monday.
Citing the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Act, 2011, the legislation behind the setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, which governs the areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the Chief Minister said the statute “expressly defines the government as the Government of the State of West Bengal”, and therefore, “the Central government has no jurisdictional competence to appoint any representative or interlocutor in matters pertaining to these regions”.
Ms. Banerjee also pointed out that the letter she wrote on October 18 was acknowledged by the Prime Minister’s Office and forwarded to the Union Home Minister.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had on October 16, 2025 appointed retired IPS officer Pankaj Kumar Singh as the interlocutor to hold talks with representatives of political parties in the Darjeeling hills to address their political demands.
The appointment of Mr. Singh, who has headed the Border Security Force and served as the Deputy National Securtiy Advisor for two years, was welcomed by political parties in the Darjeeling hills, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the Chief Minister said that the appointment had been made without any consultation with the West Bengal government.
“Such acts not only undermine the Constitutional federal structure but also erode the spirit of unity and mutual respect that defines our democratic polity. I once again look forward to your kind intervention and request you to revoke this unconstitutional and arbitrary order,” the Chief Minister wrote in her latest communication, seeking the PM’s intervention.
One of the major demands of a section of people of the Darjeeling hills has been the creation of a separate State of Gorkhaland, and this issue has been the fulcrum of politics in the Darjeeling Hills since the 1980s. The region has witnessed a series of violence and shutdowns over the issue, and the last such disruption was in 2017, when the Darjeeling hills witnessed violence which claimed 11 lives and the hills were shut down for 100 days.
