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August 2008 Edition

Vivek S Ghatani
Darjeeling

Twenty years ago the agitation for a hill state of Gorkhaland, carved out of West Bengal, was given a quiet burial. The movement has now revived and spread like wildfire in the Darjeeling region.

The leaders of the revived movement are asking for identity and development. They are seeking investment, jobs, education facilities and protection of the environment. In yet another departure from the agitation of 1986-88, the current leaders have pledged themselves to non-violence and Gandhian methods. Under Subhas Ghising and his Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) the movement was bloody and violent. It engulfed Darjeeling for 28 months and then ended rather tamely.    

On August 22, 1988, Subhas Ghising signed an agreement with the government of West Bengal and the Centre. Instead of statehood, GNLF settled for an autonomous self governing body called the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), established under a statute. The council did not have any constitutional guarantee, say critics.  The revived movement for Gorkhaland is being led by the new Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM). It was formed in October 7 last year under the leadership of Bimal Gurung, once considered the right hand man of Ghisingh.

“Subash Ghisingh fooled people of the hills for 20 years,” says Bimal Gurung, 40. “The hill council could not fulfill the aspirations of the people despite a 28- month bloody agitation in the mid 80’s in which around 1,200 people laid down their lives.”“The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha has been formed to attain the demand of the people which has always been Gorkhaland. But one must remember that the agitation this time is a non-violent one. We believe in Gandhian theories and a democratic movement because we do not want to kill more people in the hills. After the previous bloody agitation what have the people got? A DGHC which never did fulfill the aspirations of the people,” he explains.  Gurung has promised the people that statehood will be attained. “I have already said that Gorkhaland will be achieved by March 10, 2010. It’s a promise but the people will have to support the cause in every possible way. Bimal Gurung has not come out for the politics of the chair. Nor does he want to be the chairman of the present council. Any leader in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha who is looking for a chair will not survive in the party for long. I will throw him out,” Gurung recently told a public gathering in Kurseong, 30 km from Darjeeling.   

The new state of Gorkhaland, says the GJM, will comprise Siliguri, the Dooars area in the plains and the three hill sub divisions of Kurseong, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Many people here believe that the Gorkhaland movement got ignited when the people of the hills came together to vote for singing sensation Prashant Tamang in Indian Idol, Sony Entertainment’s popular TV reality show. Viewers were asked to vote via SMS for their favourite singer and the crooner who got the most votes would be declared winner. Gurung made heartfelt appeals to the people of Darjeeling to vote for Tamang and help him win the singing contest.  The people responded with enthusiasm and voted in one voice. Their solid support took Tamang to the finals of the contest. The lesson was not lost on the GJM. When the people could collectively back Tamang, they could also unite to achieve Gorkhaland, a claim that  people here say is more than 100 years old. 

“This is the last fight by the hill people for a separate state. We will achieve the promise made to the people without violence. Even a three-year-old child today chants Gorkhaland while playing at home. One cannot fool these little kids anymore. We have to think of their future which Ghisingh never did during his tenure,” says Gurung.  The GJM says it believes in non-violent struggle. Gurung has asked the people to eschew violence and not use khukris and guns. “The movement this time will be fought with pen and paper,” says Gurung. According to him nothing will be achieved by violence. There has been no development in the hills for the past 20 years and there is nothing to destroy, he says.   Ghisingh, who has gone into political hibernation, had been appointed Administrator by the West Bengal government when in 2005 the DGHC had been wound up and he had demanded a new council with Sixth Schedule status under the Constitution, which is applicable in tribal areas of the northeast, for Darjeeling. Ghising believed a new council with greater powers was the way to go.

The GJM thinks differently. It says nothing less than Gorkhaland will be acceptable. The GJM demanded scrapping of the Bill for Sixth Schedule status when it was about to get passed in Parliament. It staged a successful indefinite hunger strike in Kurseong, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. With Ghising ousted and the Sixth Schedule status Bill scrapped, both demands of the GJM were met. The GJM thereby gained more support. Following the Gandhian model it broad-based its support. Today, almost all the people here have switched their allegiance to the GJM. It has followers from minority communities like the Marwaris, Biharis and Muslims. The GJM has twice successfully called for an indefinite shutdown in the hills demanding tripartite talks for discussions on Gorkhaland.

As part of its non-cooperation movement, the GJM has asked residents not to pay any taxes including electricity and telephone bills. It has recruited young people to form a peace force that will prevent party followers from creating any violence. The GJM has plans to change number plates of vehicles running within the proposed Gorkhaland area from Siliguri subdivision and the Dooars area up to the Sankosh River near Cooch Behar on the Assam-Bengal border. “The peace force will control people during public meetings of the party and supervise picketing during bandhs. The young people in the force will be given training,” Gurung adds.

Political analysts in the hills believe that the movement this time is more self-sacrificing and has the full support of the youth.  The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in the eighties had not included so many young faces. Talking to Civil Society, Subash Pradhan, 37, youth leader of the GJM, agreed that the party gives importance to youth. “Gurung himself is a young leader and he believes in involving the young. More than the aged, Gorkhaland is for the young who have been deprived in every field, from education to jobs,” says Pradhan.  “Once Gorkhaland is achieved, it is the youth who will have to run the new state. It is better they learn some leadership qualities.”

“We are encouraging educated young people to create awareness about the need for Gorkhaland among the youth who are uneducated. We are also conducting classes at the grassroots for young people, for awareness, to awaken their dreams and to encourage them to come out and fight for Gorkhaland in a democratic manner.” Looking back, it is clear that the agitation has been mostly led by the youth. Hundreds of young people took part in the indefinite hunger strike called by the GJM, in different parts of the district. “Gorkhaland is the first priority for me. I took part in the hunger strike not for myself but for my future generation. I do not want them to lead the life I have lived all these years,” says Sonam Lama, a 26-year-old who was part of the hunger strike. Students too have given their wholehearted support. They held a relay hunger strike to support the movement for Gorkhaland.

But achieving Gorkhaland will not be easy. The government of West Bengal has repeatedly asked the GJM to hold talks and drop the demand for a separate state. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has announced that more powers can be given to the current hill council or another autonomous body can be worked out under the framework of the Constitution. The state government has ruled out another partition of Bengal. The Union government too has decided not to acquiesce to any division of West Bengal. The GJM has, however, not wavered from its demand for Gorkhaland. Development for the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, under the GNLF, meant construction of community halls and roads all over the hills. Even those who have got employment in the hill council are merely on contract. Despite the mass support the current movement for Gorkhaland enjoys will it really be able to achieve a separate state by 2010 as promised? No one here is quite sure, but everyone is waiting in anticipation.

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