I'm A Gorkha. We Will Not Rest Till We Get Gorkhaland As A State

The context and circumstances are very different, but the cause - that of a separate state of Gorkhaland - is still the same. I could not help but react to a rather spurious article on the current unrest in Darjeeling by Derek O'Brien on this website, in which his long spiel is mere Trinamool propaganda and is neither fair analysis nor proposes a permanent solution to the decades-old imbroglio.

To view the present unrest through the prism of law and order is the biggest mistake that the Mamata Banerjee government is making. Sending a 10-member high-level crack police team from Kolkata does not solve a political problem. It only resulted in the death of three people and left many injured in police firing, responsibility for which must be taken by the state government. But there is not even a word of condolence or expression of sorrow yet.

So, here is my rebuttal to O'Brien's outlandish claims:

The demand for a separate state is not about one parliamentary seat or a few assembly constituencies. It is about a people, the Gorkhas, who are different in every way and do not identify themselves with mainland Bengal. But let us consider Derek's argument of viability for a moment. Maybe he is not aware that there are nine states with one or two parliamentary constituencies - Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry have one, while Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura have two parliamentary constituencies. Most of them are doing pretty well, proving that smaller states are not just viable but better governed.

Another point with regard to unwarranted fears of opening up a Pandora's box. After two phases of states' creation in recent times - Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in 2000 and Telangana in 2014 - Gorkhaland and Bodoland alone remain the only vociferous demands backed by mass movements. Dramatic as it may sound, we will never see 290 new demands for states.

The notion that Trinamool has gained popularity in the hills is a fallacy. The massive turnout at the funeral procession of the three killed in police firing is testimony to this and the sound bites on TV cutting across caste, creed and political affiliation show that the sentiment for a separate state prevails. The GNLF has already broken ties with the Trinamool since the renewed uprising. The Jan Andolan Party too quit the Mamata-fold and backed the demand for statehood. Even the Sikkim Trinamool President resigned from his post yesterday in solidarity with the statehood cause. SDF, the dominant party of Sikkim headed by chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, has openly declared support for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The results in Mirik, a small municipality with just nine seats, does not reflect the reality. In the remaining 75 seats that also went to polls in the recent municipality polls, the Trinamool barely managed five seats. GJM overwhelmingly won the rest in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities.

Mamata's frequent forays to Darjeeling have more to do with establishing the Trinamool's political hegemony, less with development of the hills. The establishment of different development boards-notably under the Societies Registration Act, almost akin to local clubs - is a move that is divisive and carries the danger of permanently scarring Gorkha society in the Darjeeling hills, which was united so far. If the development board chairmen do not toe the Trinamool line, they can be thrown out in a jiffy. One, the vice chairman of the Lepcha board, was shown the door last month.

Uttarkanya, the secretariat for North Bengal, is in the Jalpaiguri district, not in the Darjeeling hills, and acts merely as a government outpost. A pensioner still has to travel all the way to Kolkata if he or she fails to get his or her pension. So is the case for all other government-related work.

The much-touted medical college in Kurseong is on paper. Foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg is a central scheme, and rural electrification of the hills under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya rural electrification programme was a project initiated and completed by the GJM-run Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), not the state government. 

Figures on GTA funding are incorrect. Figures cannot be fudged. Rs 465 crore has come to the GTA as special central assistance, not Rs 600 crore. This fund was the reason for the initiation of most developmental work in the GTA region including model schools and car parks. The state government, on its part, has given Rs 450 crore only as part of its state plan fund, not Rs 900 crore. The talk of a special audit is politically motivated as the  state government has all powers to conduct any audit at any time and no real powers were transferred to the GTA.

That is why the GJM has decided to go back to its key demand of Gorkhaland mentioned in the Memorandum of Agreement signed in 2011 by all three stakeholders wherein it said it would not drop the demand of a separate state.

The GJM has taken to the streets only after the state government's announcement that Bengali shall be in the three-language formula to be taught in all schools across the state. This makes it virtually compulsory, tantamount to imposition. Clarifications later that Bengali would be optional for people in the hills does not convince us for two reasons. One, Bengali has been optional since the 60s. Two, the latest announcement from the official Twitter handle of Trinamool states that Bengali will be an optional "fourth language". In other words, it must be taught in all schools, any which way.

The demand for Gorkhaland is a very old one. If the people of Darjeeling have persisted with it, those in power must acknowledge its political character and stop treating it as a mere law and order issue. Emotional opposition from mainland Bengal does not have any logic. Yes, difficulties are faced by the people when the peace of the hills is shattered and instability prevails. Tourism will suffer, ordinary life will be hampered. But they accept it with stoicism. In the 80s, the region burned for more than two years with the official death count at 1,200. In those days, indefinite bandhs - one even lasted 40 days - crippled life and badly impacted tourism. But life recovered within no time. This resilience is reflected even today as people smilingly embrace hardship in the hope of a bright future. Dialogue on statehood, therefore, must start before more lives are lost.

It is sad that the national narrative on Gorkhaland remains distorted, fueled by a possessive state government. Gorkhas are patriots, not anti-nationals. They don't want a separate country. Talk of an armed rebellion, therefore, is hogwash. All they want is a separate state that can be created under Article 3 of the Constitution. Darjeeling hills is an integral part of India. Gorkhas also do not want to spread communal hatred. They are a peaceful people and do not believe in violence.

Shouldn't the question therefore be asked now, that maybe the Establishment was consistently wrong in its approach since Gorkhas have continued to agitate for decades now? Or is it just that we are an agitation-loving people?

(The writer, a former journalist, is now with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha)

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