West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan on Wednesday avoided commenting on the ongoing protests for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland on the lines of Telangana, and said his priority is to ensure that there is peace and the state is united.
"What we want is peace and we want to keep Bengal united. Whether you negotiate or do something else that is the matter of the Government. Telangana came in and that made a big issue," he said.
The indefinite shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) demanding a separate Gorkhaland state entered its fifth day. The GJM activists have intensified their stir following the government's nod for the creation of a separate Telangana state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
The GJM has been pressing its demand for Gorkhaland as a separate state to be carved out of parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of northern West Bengal.
In July 2011, a tripartite agreement was signed between the GJM, the West Bengal government and the Centre for setting up an autonomous and elected hill council, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), vested with more powers than its predecessor-the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
