Decades-old identity politics fans fire in the queen of hills

DARJEELING :The sight of burning vehicles, exploding tear gas shells, stone-pelting protesters and bleeding policemen appear a little incongruous in peak tourist season in one of the country’s most popular hill stations. But the precipitating factors for the mayhem in Darjeeling dates back decades with a trigger in the immediate past.

The reason for the violent protests appears to be Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s (GJM) resistance to the announcement by CM Mamata Banerjee that Bengali will be taught to all students in the state till Class 10. GJM leaders described it as an imposition that was an assault on their identity and vowed to oppose it.

Nepali is the official language in Darjeeling -- recognised as state language in 1961 and in 1992 it was recognised under the eight schedule of the Constitution.

On Friday, a day after the violence, Banerjee refused to agree that teaching of Bengali was a non-issue.

She claimed the reason for the violence was to divert the attention of the people from the nonperformance in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and said Bengali would be an optional subject in the hills.

But to mount pressure on GJM president Bimal Gurung, who is also the CEO of GTA, the CM also announced a special audit of GTA finances.

All these pressures have come against the backdrop of TMC posting its first victory in the civic elections in the hills in Mirik municipality .

That Gurung was under pressure was evident before the civic polls, which he pitched in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik on the Gorkhalandversus-Bengal platform.

Darjeeling parliamentarian SS Ahluwalia, blamed Banerjee for Thursday’s trouble. “There was no need to hold the cabinet meeting in Darjeeling and the meeting was held just to serve a special purpose of the chief minster — to crush GJM,” he said.

The GJM-government relation deteriorated after the state government formed 15 development boards for different hill communities. GJM leaders interpreted it as a move to weaken the movement for Gorkhaland.

The CM has labelled GJM’s agitation as similar to Kalidas’s famous act of chopping off the very branch of tree on which he was sitting. “If tourists cannot come to the hills, how will people earn here,” the CM said.

THE REASON FOR THE STIR APPEARS TO BE GJM’S RESISTANCE TO CM‘S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT BENGALI WILL BE TAUGHT TO STUDENTS IN THE STATE TILL CLASS 10