The decision to appoint retired Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer Pankaj Singh as interlocutor for talks on the Gorkhaland issue has become yet another bone of contention between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal and the Centre.

A 1988-batch IPS officer and an old Bengal hand for Delhi , Singh was appointed in 2020 as Additional Director General in the Eastern Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) by the BJP -led NDA government at the Centre, which has been laying emphasis on checking cow “smuggling” across the border. In 2021, the BSF claimed to have brought it down by 87% since 2015.

In August 2021, Singh was elevated as Director General (DG) of the BSF and, within two months, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) increased the jurisdiction of

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