The Question of Gorkhas and Gorkhaland!

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Darjeeling!

Well, I have been put up with a slammer of questions by many of you folks and I will certainly try to answer each question to the best of my ability. However, you must understand that while the answers to the questions by any one that includes me are always based on the allegiance of the person (answering the question), the answers may or may not be completely honest and therefore not completely true. It is thus, upon you, to extract the truth from the numerous answers to your one question.

Please note that I answer these questions not as a person but as a non aligned and non concerned eyewitness – so that my answers are not seemingly patriotic or seemingly partisan.

1. Why are we demanding Gorkhaland? Just for Identity sake? Or are there other logical reasons?

The question of why do demands of Statehood arise in India and more so the demand for Gorkhaland may not be so easily answered. India is a country which may or may not be a practical unit to govern in terms of political ideologies due to the mere diversity of the people who populate it. The future of the nation lies in the fact that that the concept and consciousness of market economy lays roots in all the towns and villages of the nation and the people irrespective of what they are privately becomes a progressive contributing element, publicly. Today, the population is merely a complacent lot demanding one Right from the other while expressively withdrawing themselves from some of the smallest of civic duties.

The history of our nation is also much to blame and the forefathers while giving much to the deprived laid traps of divisive forces in the most comprehensive of the Constitution ever devised. The Reorganization of States in Linguistic basis that took place in 1956 should never have happened in a democratic secular nation. While in one hand the Constitution guarantees Right to Equality (A Fundamental Right) irrespective of caste, religion, sex and the likes, the Constitution sets out to be more partisan to the General Populace as such giving exclusive rights and privileges to the different caste groups, races and women. Now while this might have been justified during and at least 40 years after the independence but today in the Twenty First Century this breeds dissatisfaction and resentment among the noted majority. While a child during his or her birth is guaranteed all rights and privileges, he or she realizes sooner than later that it is not all true. I have deepest concerns for the women, the handicapped and the people below poverty level and I agree with privileges for them but then privileges merely based on caste, race and as such is absurd today. I have seen some of my friends riding a Rupees 80,000 motorcycle to accept a stipend of Rupees 2,000 ultimately to blow it up in a party. While this might not be the general scene all over the nation, I do believe seriously that the entire concept of rights and privileges beyond that which the Constitution guarantees should be deliberated upon and remodeled.

Now you might be wondering as to where I am leading to with my own deliberations. Well then, the fact is that the only Gorkha member of India’s Constituent Assembly had actually doubted on these very lines when he sat on the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly. “Either independent India modeled herself on the counties of the West where constituent administrative blocks, not large or very small, be carved out of the present provinces and given full autonomy in terms of financial and administrative powers or as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi converted into a Republic of Villages.” Now Damber Singh Gurung or other members who advocated such a stand may or may not have been seriously taken by the leaders of the Indian National Congress who ultimately were the decision makers, the reality today, is that, the framers did overlook one of the most fundamental responsibility of theirs – the shaping of the nation, physically into a secular, democratic and a socialist nation. I might even go to the extent that while every rights under the stars might have been guaranteed by the Constitution and that India might have been declared a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic, India is not a democratic, secular and a socialist republic in reality.

Thus, the ultimately flaw that have been bred through the Constitution and later through the most ‘unconstitutional’ Reorganization of States under linguistic basis issues like Gorkhaland, Bodoland and the likes will frequently see the light of the day.

Now for the question of why are we demanding Gorkhaland?

The general populace of Darjeeling District and parts of Dooars Terai and not including the majority of the population of Siliguri, irrespective of their caste, race, sex and linguistic leanings and most importantly irrespective of whether they are Indians of Nepalese origins or not are demanding Gorkhaland because:

1. It is their right to do so, guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
2. Based on their social, political and economical experiences under various administrations levied upon them through out their history starting from East India Company, British Crown, Bengal, Bihar, Orrisa, Assam and even former Bangladesh, they feel that the time is ripe that they be given the right to self determination under the Constitution of India.

1. 1. Social Reasons: The majority of the population that dwells in this part of the nation is Indians of Nepalese origin. Now, while historically the region itself belonged to Sikkim and previously a loose federation of the Lepchas, Limbus, Rais, Magars and the rest of the Fiefdoms and Principalities of Nepal, these Indians of Nepalese origin have historical rights to the land and this includes the Lepchas and the Limbus (Limbuwan). Now that after the subsequent take over by Sikkim and gift of the same by Sikkim to East India Company and then its Passover to the British Crown and the Indian Republic, Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai had always been part of the combined Nepalese/Limbu/Lepcha legacy. Now that the people combined have fully assimilated into mainstream India, they feel the need to be recognized as India’s own. It is their belief that as a constituent fabric of the Indian Union like the Bengalese, Tamils, Punjabis, they can as Gorkhas from Gorkhaland serve Indian Union to their fullest capacity.

1. 1. Political Reasons: Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai is the epi-centre of the people of Nepalese origin in India. And whether they make up sizeable populations in Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal, Himachal, Uttaranchal and the rest of the nation, Darjeeling Hills as such is their homeland of choice. Thus, the formation of a state of their own in this region would signify for them recognition and legitimacy and most importantly acceptance in India as a whole, no matter where they reside.

1. 1. Economic Reasons: Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai has never received economic aid proportion to the resources, potential and revenue garnered or could be garnered in the region. Bengal has always maintained that the District of Darjeeling is better off then most of its other districts including Nadia, 24 Paraganas, North Dinajpur etc and this is true. However, what the District of Darjeeling as a whole offers to the state and indeed a nation with its abundant resources, including world favourite Darjeeling Tea, Tourism et al; the scenario that comes out from behind the mist is that of sorrow neglect by Bengal. Bengal has also never found itself interested in helping the Hills and Dooars Terai to rise up to its optimum potential.

Is it just identity crisis?

The Indians of Nepalese origin have always been victim of identity crisis more so because of the existence of the Kingdom of Nepal with whom India shares a porous border. The lack of the need of visa while traveling through and fro the two nations have also lead to belief in most of the Indian circles that Nepalese wander in India freely and hence all Nepalese must be from Nepal. This leads to major complications for Indians of Nepalese origin that are originally from India and not Nepal. In fact, this vision has found root not just among commoners and the lays but also the highest of leaders in India. In the 1970s when the then Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai visited Darjeeling, he was submitted a petition by a delegation of the Bharatiya Nepali Bhasa Manyata Samiti (Indian Nepali Language Recognition Committee). The Prime Minister went through the petition and remarked rather care-freely, “I think you should be offering this petition to your King?” While the delegation lay dazed the Prime Minister further remarked, “Don’t you have a country of your own?” Yes, he was referring to Nepal and to His Late Majesty Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. And yes, there was and is a country called Nepal but surely, it never occurred to the Prime Minister that he was not talking to Nepalese Delegation from Nepal but to the Citizens of India.

Identity is thus a very big issue! There have been news and we at Beacon Online have ourselves carried out numerous reports of Indians of Nepalese origin being not given access to the most basic of amenities such as issue of ration cards, voters identity cards etc in the rest of the nation just because they were of Nepalese ethnicity. Certainly, statehood would solve a lot of problems. In the issue of identity crisis, one of our readers had commented that statehood itself may not be able to resolve identity issues that easily…he said, “a friend of mine from Gangtok was asked whether Gangtok was closer to Bangkok’, but I wonder whether that was more due to the lack of geographical knowledge on the part of that individual or a simple mistake. Sikkim is known all over the nation and indeed rest of the world not only as a favoured tourist destination but also as a model state.

Or are there any logic to it?

Too many and to name a few, political, social, cultural, economical.

2. If we are facing problems in development issue and economic aspects who is to be blamed? Is it true that the State Government is to be blamed for that, or is that our own people are becoming hindrance to the development of our people?

First of all every region in this world faces from problems related to development and to blame it upon some one is perhaps the easiest of all jobs. But to find the way out of it is most prudent thing to do. Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai is one of the most gifted of the regions in the north east. It has tremendous potential in tourism, tea, agriculture including cash crops. It has rivers for large Hydel Power Projects (presently being exploited by Sikkim). It has mineral resources yet to be exploited including coal, manganese, mica, gypsum etc. In tourism it can offer the entire kaleidoscope of Himalayan and Gangetic Geology, including trekking, mountain climbing, rafting, paragliding, river camping, wildlife sanctuaries etc. The most hyped spiritual tourism, village tourism, eco tourism, yoga tourism etc can all be experienced here. The revenue that could be generated from these if carefully and professionally managed could maintain a small country. All in all, however, and sadly enough they have been neglected by both the local and the state administration. The tea industry is surviving but can be said to be at the intensive care unit presently. The cinchona plantations are going through even worse phases. Of course, every one including the local unions, the management, the private owners, the state and the central government and of course, the general politically agitated environment that the Tea Gardens and rest of the business organisations are now operated upon is to be blamed.

The blame of economic deprivations is also mostly the result of the neglect of the State Government and lack of vision and mismanagement on the part of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. Of course, the DGHC did go to the length of creating Community Houses in almost all the villages but the roads essentially were built under Central Government Projects. The people of Darjeeling Hills and Doors Terai have also become a complacent lot who do not want to work on a vision of mass development themselves and yes, sometimes people become a hindrance to their own development. To quote one incidence, I had during one of my travel through the Singla-Tukver constituency, found that a Sarva Sikhsha Kendra was being conducted through a cowshed. There were no benches, no blackboards, no chalks and the teachers and the students interacted squatting down on the bare ground with goats tied up munching merrily over their grasses in the same room. I filmed the place and presented it to Mr. Bimal Gurung, President Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and more so because it was his constituency. Mr. Bimal Gurung, I was told later visited Singla and asked the people there about the school. The local people refused that such school existed and upon being told by Mr. Gurung that he had seen the film, the people cried out that the journalist (Barun Roy) had forcefully filmed the premises and that they had themselves nothing to do with it. Mr. Gurung visited the school and immediately rented a better place for the school. Now, why would the people not want their children to go to a better place for their education and even when there was some one willing to help them? Illiteracy, fear or dog-gone insanity …. I don’t know. Of what I have realized today, it is not the Government who is always guilty of lack of development, sometimes and in fact most of the times as it happens in the hills, it is the people themselves who become hindrance to development.

3. If DGHC was not able to solve the problems we had then will Gorkhaland solve it?

Now, there is no guarantee that the mere formation of Gorkhaland will solve the problem. It is certainly a means to an end as DGHC was where one would have to work it prudently to make it work. There have to be dedicated leaders, resource people who would frame new visions and ultimately, diligent, strong and able hands to give shape to those visions. DGHC blundered and misappropriated because it became a vehicle of one man’s arrogance. Gorkhaland must become everyone’s collective enterprise; it must be the instrument of the people working for the good of the people and the people themselves at the same time responsible to it. A symbiotic relation that is or else even Gorkhaland would not suffice as it is in the north east where the acceptance of statehood demands has only lead to the demand for complete independence.

4. Why is it only Indian Nepali all the time, when we all know that there are other communities too residing in that part of the country and don’t they want Gorkhaland? Won’t they benefit from it? or are “we” the Nepalis excluding them from this movement…. are we repeating the mistake that India had done long time back while fighting for independence….forgetting about the minorities? Aren’t we supposed to ask their views and try to include them in the movement? aren’t they a part of Darjeeling?

While a majority of the population in the Hills and Dooars Terai do accept the demand for Gorkhaland, it is essentially the demand of the Indians of Nepalese origin. Of course, the entire gamete of the population irrespective of their caste, race, religion and language will benefit from it.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front under the leadership of Subash Ghisingh during and after the Gorkhaland agitation had excluded the Non-Nepalese population from the Hills from participating in it, even to the extent of making the Nepalese population from the region believe that the Non-Nepalese would eventually have to ‘leave, for they did not belong’. The non-Nepalese in the Hills essentially also lived in the fear that ultimately they may need to leave. This feeling however, disseminated as most of the Marwari community became the main source of finance for the party. It is same today with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha. The Bengalese to the most extend are still resented and the Biharis looked upon as unwanted and almost parasitical. These feelings and sentiments must be given up by all parties and the mandate of the entire population taken in all political issues. This will be a prudent way for all political parties to operate.

5. Now that DGHC is not functioning what will happen to our people till we get Gorkhaland? Who will take their responsibility? Hundreds of the young generation would be careless? Their future would be on stake? Who is to be blamed for it? Should it be named as sacrifice a forced sacrifice?

DGHC is functioning with Mr. B. L. Meena as its caretaker administrator. The Darjeeling Hills are presently under dual administration that of the District Administration headed by the District Magistrate and that of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council headed by Mr. B. L. Meena as the Caretaker Administrator. All the development projects and programmes sanctioned by the State Government are being implemented through these two agencies.

The surmise that ‘what will happen to our people till we get Gorkhaland’ does not stand so much so that it will be the same that it is today. The citizens of Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai will have to compete for education, jobs, business and general livelihood along with the rest of the nation. They will have to learn to take their own responsibility to exist as a productive individual, race, and ultimately an Indian.

Lastly, there is no such thing as sacrifice in the modern day politics. There is only self-interest. Everybody, whether a class two educated muscleman, or a graduate housewife who ventures to the roads for Gorkhaland either does so because they can’t say no to Mr. Bimal Gurung, Mr. Subash Ghisingh, Mr. Madan Tamang or Mr. R. B. Rai or that they get paid. There are certainly thousands and more who do so because they care and believe in Gorkhaland but do they get to reach the top of the leadership ladder. No!

Revolution is the modern era is not revolutions of ideologies as they used to be….they are the revolutions of self-interests.

I hope that we achieve Gorkhaland one day and I hope that we are prepared to hand it to the people and not to self interest groups.

With best wishes and deepest regards

Barun Roy