DARJELELING SKRIMISH
The hills in Darjeeling in West
Bengal state have been reverberating again with calls for a separate state of
“Gorkhaland”. Nearly 20 years after a high pitched demand was raised by the
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) under the leadership of Subhas
Ghisingh, his one-time protege Bimal Gurung is leading a series of agitations
with the same demand but with a significant difference. Under Gurung’s
leadership, the Gorkha Janamukthi Morcha (GJM) has asked for a “Gorkhaland”
which would incorporate areas within the plains in Siliguri and Doars as well.
An indefinite strike call was called earlier this month by Gurung and his
party, who have refused overtures for talks with the state government, which,
in turn, has refused to acknowledge the demand for a separate state. The
agitation in the Darjeeling district has created bottlenecks for transport of
goods to the landlocked Sikkim. After the central government received a
delegation of the GJM and assured them of tripartite talks if required, the
bandh has been lifted until early July.
The rise of the GJM has coincided
with the isolation of the GNLF and Subhas Ghisingh, the long-time chairman of
the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). Elections to the council have not
been held since 2004 and the performance of the council has been questioned.
There are allegations of corruption even as there has been no significant
improvement in the region’s development or in governance under the GNLF’s rule.
The GJM shot into prominence after its opposition to a memorandum of
understanding signed by Ghisingh with the state and the central governments to
recognise Darjeeling as a tribal territory under the purview of the Sixth
Schedule of the Constitution. The proposal, which was in principle accepted by
the state government, has been rejected by the GJM which is loath to consider
Darjeeling as a tribal territory because of the varied ethnic composition in
the region. Since then the Sixth Schedule bill has been dropped.
The move to bring Darjeeling under
the Sixth Schedule would have provided an assurance on paper that these areas
would be self-governed with local laws and with local control over substantive
financial and legislative powers. Less than 35 per cent of the hill dwellers
are currently recognised as scheduled tribe (ST) members and the move to
incorporate Darjeeling as a tribal territory is seen as divisive by the other
sections of the hills region.
The GJM had used the “Gorkha”
identity sentiment through agitations against non-Nepali speakers and
outsiders, which rocked the Darjeeling district in September last year, to
consolidate its support base even as the GNLF was gradually sidelined. By
claiming that the Sixth Schedule status was meant to divide the “Gorkha”
community in the hills, the GJM has been able to pitchfork the Gorkhaland
demand into the limelight again. The politics of identity has been further
complicated with groups representing the Bengali-speaking population in the
Siliguri area rioting on this issue. Other identity based and separatist
parties such as the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP) have also entered the fray
by supporting the agitation launched by the GJM. In essence, the issue
threatens to snowball into an ethnic quagmire pitting hill dwellers against
those living in the the plains as well as giving a fillip to other separatist
tendencies in the region.
The incidents in Darjeeling suggest
that the logic of development through the means of providing special treatment
on the basis of identity, representation and difference has its limits. The
state and central governments have underestimated the fissiparous tendencies of
using the logic of special treatment methods based on the concept of ethnic
difference rather than “disadvantage” in a region that is characterised by multiplicity
of identities. At the same time, it is obvious that there must be talks between
the hills based groups such as the GJM and the political leadership of the
state to prevent the deterioration of the situation into a violent
confrontation between the hills dwelling and the plains dwelling people of the
district. The GJM has accepted tripartite political talks with the state and
central governments. Considering the dangerous portents that the agitation has
taken, adopting maximalist positions will not result in any tangible
improvement in the situation
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