Fix a timeline to carve out the state of Gorkhaland
This sensitive geography of the state with three international borders cannot continue to remain fragile
THE DEMAND FOR GORKHALAND IS 110 YEARS OLD. SUCH REPRESSIONS HAVE TAKEN PLACE MANY TIMES IN THE PAST. WHO CAN FORGET THE BRUTAL ASSAULT ON GORKHA EXSERVICEMEN IN 2009.
The deployment of police, paramilitary forces and army in Darjeeling to quell the demand for a separate state is alarming. Peace-loving and highly tolerant hill folk do not deserve this vicious state led repression at all. Four backdrops could be built to this huge instability in the “chicken neck corridor”.
First, the demand for Gorkhaland is now 110 years old. Such repressions have taken place several times in the past in the Queen of the Hills. Who can forget the brutal assault on the Gorkha ex-servicemen in Siliguri in 2009. Second, in post independent India, in order to suppress this demand, all kinds of political and parochial manipulations have been practised by the State. This ranges from treating Darjeeling as a bastion of internal colonialism; depriving it of its British India status of ‘partially excluded area’; misrepresentation in the State Reorganisation Committee and Act of 1956, misdirection in the Mandal Commission Report in early 1980s and playing with statistics and development indicators.
Not content with all these, the Bengal government manipulated the delimitation of Darjeeling and Dooars parliamentary and state assembly constituencies; and gave a communal colour and ‘anti-national’ tag to the demand for state hood.
Ignoring the 1961 language resolution passed by the West Bengal Assembly to implement Nepali language in the Darjeeling district, Bengali was nearly foisted by the present Government. Nepali is enshrined in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. In a vibrant democracy like ours, food, language, culture, clothing, religion, ideology and political affiliations are at their best when they are left to voluntary adoption and adaptation.
Third, this is not a particular community based demand. And more seriously, it is not against any community. The demands are exactly on the lines of newly created states like Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh and Telengana. It has acquired the popular term Gorkhaland as it captures the imagination of the hill folk; like what happened when Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar and even West Bengal were created. It is a geographical demand that based on history, culture, society, and polity of all the communities living in Darjeeling and Dooars. Bengalis, Rajbongshis, Gorkhas, KocheMeche, Advasis, Bhutias, Lepchas, Marwaris, Biharis, Christians, Muslims, they all have lived together for decades. Given the historical wrongs, protracted discrimination and deprivations, there would be no one in this region who would not opt for a separate state.
Both the political parties – Gorkha National Liberation Front and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha – have been corrupt and directionless. Other than the total leadership failure in both these autonomous bodies, the core actor in these failed models has been the State Government. Its actions have been too small and thinking too frugal; and that has kept Darjeeling constantly boiling in low intensity conflicts.
The Union Governments, regardless of their political backgrounds, do accept the security and greater ramifications of instability in the cultural ecology of Darjeeling. But again remain constrained by the larger dynamics of vote banks in West Bengal. However, this sensitive geography of the country with three international borders – Bhutan in the east, Nepal to the west and Bangladesh in the south and also China a little further to the north – cannot continue to remain fragile. The entire connectivity to the North East region of India passes through the ‘chicken neck corridor’ in this district which actually provides the interconnectivity to these three countries. The sub-regional transport agreement BBIN signed in 2015 is a strong testimony to it. India’s Act East policy physically starts from this point.
Therefore, the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency comprising of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, plains of Chopra and Islampur and adjoining Dooars region, have to be brought under the purview of the Union Government and administration. And a timeline for carving out a separate state in this region must be set in motion. This is the only way forward to bring durable peace and prosperity and ensure national security.