UTTARKHAND, GORKHASTHAN OR GORKHALAND…The Central Point has always been to have a place we can call home

By Akhilesh Gurung

They say “A Generation was wiped away (quite literally)” during the Gorkhaland agitations (1986-88). Official figure’s point to a meagre 1200, but it’s an open secret that official death tolls are seriously understated. Each martyr who may have sacrificed his life for the cause may have done so with an inner satisfaction that his life would not go to waste, that his compatriots would carry on the struggle. A struggle to have a place, an identity of our own.

The agitation of 1986-88 was not the first demand of our people for a separate identity, and will certainly not be the last (if I may add). It was way back in 1907 that the first ever demand for ‘a separate administrative setup’ for the District of Darjeeling was placed before the British government by the leaders of the hill people. Their main reason for doing so was the superior attitude of the Brown Sahibs (from Dhaka and Calcutta) shown towards the people of the hills and their growing sense of insecurity against the educated hordes of the plains. The demand was ignored. Similar demands for recognition were put up in 1917, 1930 and then again in 1934 but without any success. The demand for a separate state came up around 1946 when Randhir Subba of the All India Gorkha League raised the demand for a separate state within the framework of the Indian Constitution called “Uttarkhand”. The movement initially gained momentum and was discussed by the masses but fizzed out later on owing to mobilisation of leaders for other purposes. Later in 1947, two Gorkha’s Ganeshlal Subba and Ratanlal Brahmin, members of the undivided CPI (Communist Party of India) submitted a quixotic memorandum, which was more of an attention seeker than anything else, demanding the creation of ‘Gorkhasthan’ – an independent country comprising of the present day Nepal, Darjeeling District and Sikkim. The ‘Gorkhaland’ movement of 1986-88 had its roots in the demand of Gorkha’s living in the Darjeeling district and Duars of West Bengal for a separate state within the constitutional framework of India. The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which led the movement in the 1980’s, was the first ever to use the proper noun Gorkhaland for the desired dream. After two years of bloody violence marked by massive disruption of social and economic life, the issue ended with an anti climax of sorts with the establishment of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council rather than a separate state forwhich countless lives had been sacrificed. The State Government of West Bengal, which had earlier supported some form of autonomy, severely repressed the movement. It’s almost 10 years since the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council has been setup. There is almost no Development to speak of, the only development the Councillor’s engage in is patching up almost unmotorable roads only for them to be washed away a week into the rainy season. Unemployment among the youth’s is at an all time high with very little employment opportunities available anywhere in the region. The problem of drug abuse by the unemployed youth’s of Darjeeling District is a highly alarming social situation. Even though the schools of Darjeeling District up till the Pre-Graduation level are quite good, there isn’t much after that with only North Bengal University in Siliguri. Every year horde’s of student’s have to go to other cities to look for quality education at the Graduation and Post Graduation levels. Even after getting their degree’s student’s are reluctant to come back home because there isn’t much in way of job opportunities to speak of. For the student’s who go to bigger cities to pursue further studies or even in search of work, there is a case of severe identity crisis in terms of ‘where they hail from’. In Kolkata itself which is officially our state capital, Gorkha students face racial abuses and are treated as outsiders. They treat us as if we are migrants and outsiders from Nepal; some even think that we are ‘Chinese’. Hardly things you would expect to come across in your ‘own state’. That’s not all; our identity all over the country is botched up with most of the people outside West Bengal thinking that we are not Indians and hail from Nepal.

The Gorkha’s have been as much an integral part of India as any other ethnic class of people, most notably the thousands of Gurkha soldiers that have laid their lives for the security of India. And yet we are called outsiders by many in our country. The state does nothing to help our cause; the people of Bengal are hardly worried about the issues of the Gurkha’s. The only time they think about Darjeeling is when they are planning a holiday there. And then after lapping up our hospitality and admiring the scenic beauty for a few days, they’re back in the city calling us by various names like ‘Bahadur’, ‘Kancha’, ‘Chini’ (Bengali word for Chinese). The issue here is not just about neglected development issues, its not just about ethnical differences, its not just about Self Government but about Identity and Recognition. A state is a primary requirement to that effect. And to anyone who thinks that we are not capable to run a state, let me remind them that India itself was told that it was not capable of self governance during its pre-independence days. Give us a chance, we may fall a few times but we’ll learn and we’ll make it work because it’s our home and we are the sons of this land.