SEPARATIST PROTESTS IN DARJEELING DRIVE TOURISTS FROM HOLIDAY TOWN
Tea plantation workers strike and businesses close in support of opposition to school language ruling by West Bengal state authorities
The summer months are usually peak tourist season in Darjeeling, a charming Indian town in the foothills of the Himalayas where people find relief from the heat of the plains.
But Darjeeling this year has been roiled by more than a month of separatist protests and violence that have resulted in the deaths of seven people, injured dozens and destroyed millions of rupees worth of public property.
It began in Darjeeling and environs last month after the West Bengal state government made Bengali language courses mandatory in schools in May.
The order revived the demand by the Nepalese-speaking Gorkha community, the majority of the population in and around Darjeeling, for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
The century-old Gorkhaland movement has flared up sporadically since the Hillman’s Association, a Gorkha community group, called for separate administration in 1907.
But in all this time, only two periods of sustained protest have been longer than the current strife – a 40-day strike in 1988 and a 44-day strike in 2013.
This summer, workers in the region’s renowned tea plantations downed tools and local businesses closed in support of the cause.
Every day, hundreds of people gather for rallies through the town’s narrow streets, shouting slogans and holding placards. They have clashed with police and the 1,100 paramilitary troops who were rushed to Darjeeling by New Delhi to try to maintain order.
In some instances, the security forces used live fire on protesters, killing seven and injuring dozens. The demonstrators set government vehicles and offices on fire.
The state government responded by cutting off internet services in Darjeeling and blocking local television channels, leaving only Bengali channels on the air.
“In July, ordinarily I would be taking people on trips into the tea gardens around Darjeeling, making a little bit of money,” said Raj Tamang, an independent tour guide in summer and odd-job man for the rest of the year.
“Not this year, though. This year I walk to a rally and then I go back home. It is unusually quiet but it feels like Darjeeling is going through an important time.”
Bimal Gurung, head of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha political party that champions a Gorkhaland state, predicted on Saturday last week that the protests would become terrible.
The order revived the demand by the majority Nepalese-speaking Gorkha community in Darjeeling for a separate state
“It will be a decisive battle for our independence,” Mr Gurung said. “If I need to shed my blood I am ready to do that, but the fight will go on until Gorkhaland is achieved.”
Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal state, has said she is willing to talk to the Ghorkaland parties but has not referred directly to the language rule that triggered the protests.
Ms Banerjee has also hinted that she suspects neighbouring China of stoking the agitation in Darjeeling.
“Maoists from a neighbouring country have infiltrated the area and are going to target government officials working in the hills,” her government said in an affidavit filed with the Calcutta high court on Friday.
Vandalism has caused losses of 3.5 billion rupees (Dh199.7 million) to state and private property, the affidavit said.
The protests look certain to continue, driven by public outrage but also by politics, said Arun Kanti Jana, a political scientist at the University of North Bengal in Darjeeling.
“The language issue has always been a part of the Gorkhaland agitation but not in as major a way,” Dr Jana said.
“Bengali has always been taught in the hills, but it has been optional. Nepali or English have been the medium of instruction.”
Another order issued in May by the West Bengal government, that the local administration provide more detailed audits of its expenditure, is not an unreasonable one, Dr Jana said.
“But the Gorkhaland parties have been hostile to that kind of internal auditing. They see it as a loss of autonomy.”
All of this coincided with Mr Gurung’s party, which has long led the Gorkhaland movement, suffering a minor electoral setback in mid-May.
In local elections, the party dominated in three out of four municipalities – Darjeeling and three nearby towns – but it was forced into a minority in the fourth, Mirik.
Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party won six out of nine wards in that area.
Since then, the party has been apprehensive about a decline in its popularity, Dr Jana said.
“It looked like other parties were making inroads into this region, so the Morcha was searching for an issue to solidify its support and to rally people behind it,” he said.
“It is true that the chief minister made a great mistake with this imposition of Bengali. But it was ideal for the Morcha, and it has been very successful in mobilising people against” the state government.