GNLF demands Gorkhaland, says Nepalis treated as second class citizens
Darjeeling is normally a holiday-makers paradise at this time of the year but last fortnight it clouded over with presentiment of a violent separatist agitation.
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Indranil Banerjie
May 31, 1986
ISSUE DATE: May 31, 1986UPDATED: January 31, 2014 18:47 IST
Ghising addressing GNLF rally
Darjeeling is normally a holiday-makers paradise at this time of the year but last fortnight it clouded over with presentiment of a violent separatist agitation. Its walls filled up with posters and graffiti demanding "Gorkhaland" - a separate state for Darjeeling district - and the police moved into the streets.
The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which is spearheading the separatist movement, organised meetings and processions throughout the district, startling tourists with cries of "Jai Gorkha" and "Gorkhaland Zindabad."
Chief Minister Jyoti Basu raged in Calcutta: "They (the GNLF) are out to destroy the country. We will oppose them politically and administratively." Minister for Hill Development Tamang Dawa Lama was despatched to Darjeeling to campaign against the movement, backed by contingents of the Eastern Frontier Rifles. The CPI(M) believes the Gorkhaland demand is "against the sovereignty and unity of the country". Declared Lama: "We think there is a deep conspiracy behind this agitation."
But the unyielding separatists gave a call for a 72-hour bandh. "Jyoti Basu has no legal right to interfere with our demand. If the CPI(M) tries to crush our movement with violence our cause will only become more popular," says GNLF chief Subash Ghising. A former corporal, Ghising has been agitating for a separate state since 1979 when the-then prime minister Morarji Desai pronounced that Nepali is a language of foreigners.
The GNLF's agitation on its 11-point programme began with a black flag protest against the "genocide" of Nepalis on April 13, the Nepali new year day. when over 15,000 Nepalis from all over the district assembled in Darjeeling despite the imposition of Section 144 and road blockades by the police.
The programme envisages timber blockades, election boycott, social ostracisation of pro-Bengal leaders, boycott of national celebrations, refusal to pay taxes, and ritual burning of the 1950 Indo-Nepal treaty. If the Centre still does not respond, the GNLF has resolved to launch a "do or die" struggle, though the enigmatic Ghising refuses to clarify whether this implies a recourse to arms.
Ghising had only a miniscule following till recently. But the eviction of Nepalis from Meghalaya in March made him into a hero overnight. "We were shocked to hear that nearly 6,000 Nepalis had been picked up like chattel by the Meghalaya police and dumped in Guwahati from where the Assamese packed them off in trucks to North Bengal," says All-India Nepali Bhasha Samiti President Prem Allay. A Bhasha Samiti team sent to Assam and Meghalaya found that the evictions were summary and illegal.
The West Bengal Government's decision to send the evicted Nepalis on to the Indo-Nepal border at Kakarvita added to the Nepalis' gall. Pointing out the Basu Government's double standards, Allay said: "When Bengali refugees came from Assam three years ago, Jyoti Basu's Government had escorted them to refugee camps."
However, Darjeeling District Magistrate G. Balagopal denies the charge. "They did not ask for help and went on their own to Kakarvita. Our police merely kept a watch on them," he says. The CPI(M) contends that the evicted persons were all Nepalese citizens. But Bhasha Samiti inquiries confirmed that at least 400 bona fide Darjeeling residents were also pushed back.
The GNLF charge that Nepalis were treated as second class citizens has struck an emotional chord, convincing even educated Nepalis of the need for a separate state. "We are not secessionists or anti-Indian. We want Gorkhaland because we want an Indian identity," explains Ghising.
Once Gorkhaland is formed, he believes, Indian Nepalis will no longer be lumped together with the citizens of Nepal. Even the Darjeeling district Congress(I) unit has lent qualified support. Said a Congress(I) leader: "We have decided to press for Union territory status for Darjeeling."
The CPI(M) has hit back by highlighting the contradictions in some of the GNLF's pronouncements. Asked Lama: "If you (the GNLF) respect India's unity and integrity, then why have you announced that you will not sing the national anthem?" Replied Ghising: "We have not got anything from the country for the last 37 years. All our pleas have fallen on deaf ears and in our frustration we have to protest."
The CPI(M)'s warning that the agitation will be disastrous for Darjeeling's tourist-based economy has left the Nepalis unmoved. Says a Darjeeling restauranteer Uttam Gurung: "We are suffering because of this agitation but I still feel it must goon. Our future depends on it." The only fear is if any Bengali is assaulted in Darjeeling, it will be the vulnerable Nepalis living in Calcutta and Siliguri who will be affected.
So far the GNLF is on a non-confrontational path but this will obviously not continue given the intransigence of the state and Central Government. Ghising hints ominously that there are about 40,000 retired soldiers in the district. Indication enough that it could well be a while before the dark clouds over Darjeeling are dissipated.
