West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to revoke the Central government’s “unilateral decision” to appoint interlocutor for talks with leaders of the Darjeeling hills over various demands, including the issue of Gorkhaland statehood, saying she was “surprised and shocked by the decision”.

In the letter, Banerjee said the decision was taken without any consultation with the state government and it violated the spirit of cooperative federalism.

On Thursday, the Centre appointed former deputy national security adviser Pankaj Kumar Singh as interlocutor to find a “permanent political solution” to the demand for Gorkhaland statehood and Scheduled Tribe status for 11 Gorkha sub-tribes.

Several Gorkha leaders from the region had welcomed the Centre’s decision.

Banerjee wrote, “I am surprised and shocked to know that the Government of India has appointed Shri Pankaj Kumar Singh, IPS (Retd.) as an interlocutor to hold discussions on the issues relating to Gorkhas in Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars regions of West Bengal. This appointment has been made without any consultation with the Government of West Bengal, even though the issues under reference directly relate to the governance, peace, and administrative stability of the area under Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an autonomous body under Government of West Bengal.”

“Such unilateral action is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperative federalism that forms one of the foundational principles of our Constitution…,” Banerjee added.

Banerjee pointed out that the GTA was constituted following a tripartite agreement signed on July 18, 2011, at Darjeeling, between the Centre, the West Bengal government, and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), in the presence of the then Union home minister and the West Bengal CM. The GTA, she wrote, was created “to ensure socio-economic, infrastructural, educational, cultural and linguistic developments of the hill areas, while safeguarding the ethnic identity of the Gorkhas and promoting peaceful co-existence among all communities, a hallmark of the unity and harmony of the hills”.

“The government of West Bengal, therefore, is firmly of the view that any initiative concerning the Gorkha community or the GTA region must be undertaken in full consultation with the state government, in order to preserve the hard-earned peace and tranquillity in the region. Any unilateral action in this sensitive matter will not be in interest of peace and harmony in the region,” she added.

Banerjee further urged PM Modi to “reconsider and revoke this appointment order issued without prior and due consultation with the Government of West Bengal, as is expected in the true spirit of federalism and mutual respect between the Union and the states”.

Call for a separate state

The demand for the separate state of Gorkhaland was first raised by GNLF leader Subhash Ghising in the 1980s. The separate state demand also witnessed 104 days of strikes and clashes in Darjeeling and the surrounding hills on September 26, 2017.

Since 2012, the GTA has been in place in Darjeeling. It replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), which was established in 1988, following the movement led by Ghising.

Talks between Darjeeling leaders and the Centre took place twice, first in October 2021 and then in April 2025.