By K.K.Muktan
The silent hills of Darjeeling are reverberating with clamours once again. The Bengali language policy recently announced by the West Bengal Government stoked the latent ember of Gorkhaland making the Gorkhas restive once again with their old demand for Gorkhaland. It is more than twelve days now that the agitation is going on ; three innocent Gorkhas lost their lives in police firing ; Bimal Gurung, the Chief of Darjeeling Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (DGTA) and his deputies resigned en-masse from their offices and burned down the DGTA Accord ; the all party meeting held on 13th June including the BJP unanimously passed a resolution in favour of Gorkhaland. But Mamata Banerjee,Chief Minister of West Bengal remained conspicuously non-committal till date, in complete disregard of the volatile situation. As the indefinite agitation is allowed to prolong, the demand for Gorkhaland is growing louder and spreading wider every day with the spontaneous support from Gorkhas living in other parts of India, like Delhi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. From the Northeast too the Gorkhas of Assam, Manipur.Arunachal Pradesh have joined the bandwagon with active support from the local organisations.
The Gorkhaland concept is now getting wider support, both from Gorkhas and non-Gorkhas, because the demand has been perceived to be not motivated by any political interest or for economic development, but for the genuine cause of ethnic identity of the Indian Gorkhas living in India which, they feel, is at stake. It is the socio-cultural and ethno-linguistic factors that have driven the Gorkhas to aspire for a home land, like any other Indian community, to call it their own state in India where they have lived for generations, loved dearly and made supreme sacrifices for her freedom, sovereignty, integrity and internal security. The Gorkhas are a peace loving and law abiding community and they can assimilate well with their neighbours, and for that matter, they do not harbour any animosity towards the Bengalis or any other community. But they are proud of the glorious history of their redoubtable Gorkhas in Indian army and intensely possessive of their distinct language, culture and traditions.
The small territory of Darjeeling, the name adulterated from ‘Dorje-ling’(meaning place of thunderbolt) originally part of Sikkim ; was once a part of the Nepalese kingdom (1780 to 1815), and was subsequently restored to Sikkim in 1815 under the treaty of Segowli. It was taken over by the British in 1835 on lease of Rs.6000 per annum from the Chogyal of Sikkim for the purpose of sanatorium. For over one hundred years Darjeeling was classed as a ‘Non-regulated Area’, where the Acts and Regulations of the British Raj did not apply. From 1935 till independence of India in 1947 the district of Darjeeling enjoyed the privilege of a ‘Partially Excluded Area’ like some hill districts of the Northeast. The indigenous people of Darjeeling like the Gorkhas, Sikkimese, Bhutias and Lepchas were allowed to live with their respective cultures and traditions, least affected by the plains below. Today, all the North Eastern hill districts which were classed as ‘Partially Excluded Areas’ became full-fledged states under the Constitution of India and are developing according to their aspirations. But Darjeeling is still a district under West Bengal, stripped of all her autonomy, equity, justice and right to self-determination enshrined in the Constitution.
The demand of Darjeeling Gorkhas for a separate administrative unit is one of the oldest and has been hanging fire for more than a century. The first voice raised by them was in 1907 when the Darjeeling Hillmans’ Association had submitted a memorandum to the Morley-Minto Reforms Commission demanding for a separate administrative unit. The demand was re-iterated in 1917 by submitting another memorandum to the Secretary of state of India. In 1929 Darjeeling Hillman Association raised the demand before the Simon Commission for separation of Darjeeling from the province of Bengal. Then again in 1952 the All India Gorkha League, under the Presidentship of N.B.Gurung, met Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India at Kalimpong and prayed for separation of Darjeeling from Bengal. In 1980 Indra Bahadur Rai, President of Prantia Parishad submitted a memorandum to Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India praying for separate state for Indian Gorkhas.
Thus the Gorkhas of Darjeeling have never stopped praying, demanding, clamouring and even dying in police firing for the sake of a separate state of Gorkhaland which alone could fulfil their aspiration. It is, therefore, a long standing demand of the Darjeeling Gorkhas which is supported by six million Indian Gorkhas living in different parts of the country, as a crucial issue involving their ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity.
The Governments in the state and the centre needs to view with due concern and consideration and evolve a viable solution to this long standing problem.
(The writer is a retired civil servant of the Govt of Meghalaya)