Gorkhaland ( Nepali: गोर्खाल्याण्ड) is a
proposed state in India demanded by
the people of Darjeeling hills and the
people of Nepalese ethnic origin in
Dooars in northern West Bengal on
the basis of ethno-linguistic rights.
The movement for Gorkhaland has
gained momentum in the line of ethno-
linguistic-cultural sentiment of the
people who desire to identify
themselves as Indian Gorkhas.
Two mass movements for Gorkhaland
have taken place under the Gorkha
National Liberation Front (1986–1988)
and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (2007–
to date). This movement has mainly
support from Nepali Indian people.
**History of the demand for separate state :
The demand for a separate
administrative unit in Darjeeling has
existed since 1907, when the Hillmen's
Association of Darjeeling submitted a
memorandum to Minto-Morley
Reforms demanding a separate
administrative setup.In 1917, the
Hillmen's Association submitted a
memorandum to the Chief Secretary,
Government of Bengal, the Secretary
of State of India and the Viceroy for
the creation for the creation of a
separate administrative unit
comprising the Darjeeling district and
adjoining Jalpaiguri district.
View of Darjeeling, where the
Gorkhaland movement is based
In 1929, the Hillmen's Association
again raised the same demand before
the Simon Commission. In 1930, a joint
petition was submitted by Hillmen's
Association, Gorkha Officers
Association and the Kurseong Gorkha
Library to the Secretary of the State of
India, Samuel Hoare for separation
from the province of Bengal. In 1941,
the Hillmen's Association under the
presidency of Rup Narayan Sinha
urged the Secretary of State of India,
Lord Pethick Lawrence , to exclude
Darjeeling from the province of Bengal
and make it a Chief Commissioners
Province.
In 1947, the undivided Communist
Party of India (CPI) submitted a
memorandum to the Constituent
Assembly with copies to Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru , the Vice President
of the Interim Government, and
Liaquat Ali Khan , Finance Minister of
the Interim Government, demanding
the formation of Gorkhasthan
comprising Darjeeling District, Sikkim
and Nepal.
In Independent India, Akhil
Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) was
the first political party from the region
to demand greater identity for the
Gorkha ethnic group and economic
freedom for the community, when in
1952, under the presidency of N.B.
Gurung, the party met Pt. Jawaharlal
Nehru, the then Prime Minister of
India in Kalimpong and submitted a
memorandum demanding separation
from Bengal.
In 1980, under the presidency of
Indra Bahadur Rai , the Pranta
Parishad of Darjeeling wrote to the
then Prime Minister of India Indira
Gandhi with the need to form a new
state in Darjeeling.
The movement for a separate state of
Gorkhaland gained serious momentum
during the 1980s, when a violent
agitation was carried out by Gorkha
National Liberation Front (GNLF) led
by Subhash Ghisingh . The agitation
ultimately led to the establishment of
a semiautonomous body in 1988 called
the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
(DGHC) to govern certain areas of
Darjeeling district . However, in 2007, a
new party called the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha (GJM) raised the demand for
a separate state of Gorkhaland once
again. In 2011, GJM signed an
agreement with the state and central
governments for the formation of
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration ,
a semiautonomous body that replaced
the DGHC in the Darjeeling hills.
**History of the area:
Before the 1780s, the area of
Darjeeling formed a part of dominions
of the Chogyal of Sikkim , who had been
engaged in unsuccessful warfare
against the Gorkhas of Nepal .Around
1780, the Gorkhas invaded Sikkim and
captured most part of it which
includes Darjeeling with Siliguri. By
the beginning of 19th century, they had
overrun Sikkim as far eastward as the
Teesta River and had conquered and
annexed the Terai .
In the meantime, the British were
engaged in preventing the Gorkhas
from overrunning the whole of the
northern frontier. The Anglo-Gorkha
war broke out in 1814, which resulted
in the defeat of the Gorkhas and
subsequently led to the signing of the
Sugauli Treaty in 1815. According to
the treaty, Nepal had to cede all those
territories which the Gorkhas had
annexed from the Chogyal of Sikkim to
the British East India Company (i.e.
the area between Mechi River and
Teesta River ).
Darjeeling in 1880
Later in 1817, through the Treaty of
Titalia, the British East India Company
reinstated the Chogyal of Sikkim,
restored all the tracts of land between
the Mechi River and the Teesta river
to the Chogyal of Sikkim and
guaranteed his sovereignty.
The controversy did not end there.
Later, in 1835, the hill of Darjeeling,
including an enclave of 138 square
miles (360 km2 ), was given to the
British East India Company by Sikkim,
executed with a Deed of Grant. In
November 1864, the Treaty of Sinchula
was executed, in which the Bengal
Dooars, which originally had been
under the Cooch Behar State and
taken over by Bhutan in the second
half of the eighteenth century with the
passes leading into the hills of Bhutan
and Kalimpong were ceded to the
British by Bhutan. Kalimpong as
well had been a part of Sikkim and was
occupied by Bhutan in 1700; but
according to the Treaty Sincula was
ceded to British India along with the
eleven Bengal Dooars; though seven
Assam Dooars had already been taken
over by the British in 1942. The
present Darjeeling district can be said
to have assumed its present shape and
size in 1866 with an area of 1234 sq.
miles.
Prior to 1861 and from 1870–1874,
Darjeeling District was a "Non-
Regulated Area" (where acts and
regulations of the British Raj did not
automatically apply in the district in
line with rest of the country, unless
specifically extended). From 1862 to
1870, it was considered a "Regulated
Area". The term "Non-Regulated
Area" was changed to "Scheduled
District" in 1874 and again to
"Backward Tracts" in 1919. The status
was known as "Partially Excluded
Area" from 1935 until the
independence of India.
**Agitation under GNLF and formation
of DGHC:
In the 1980s, Subhash Ghisingh raised
the demand for the creation of a state
called Gorkhaland within India to be
carved out of the hills of Darjeeling
and areas of Dooars and Siliguri terai
contiguous to Darjeeling. The demand
took a violent turn, which led to the
death of over 1,200 people. This
movement culminated with the
formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill
Council (DGHC) in 1988. The DGHC
administered the Darjeeling hills for 23
years with some degree of autonomy.
The fourth DGHC elections were due
in 2004. However, the government
decided not to hold elections and
instead made Subhash Ghisingh the
sole caretaker of the DGHC till a new
Sixth Schedule tribal council was
established. Resentment among the
former councillors of DGHC grew
rapidly. Among them, Bimal Gurung,
once the trusted aide of Ghising,
decided to break away from the
GNLF. Riding on a mass support for
Prashant Tamang, an Indian Idol
contestant from Darjeeling, Bimal
quickly capitalized on the public
support he received for supporting
Prashant, and was able to overthrow
Ghisingh from the seat of power. He
went on to found the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha raising the demand a state of
Gorkhaland.
Ahead of the 2009 general elections in
India, the Bharatiya Janata Party
again announced its policy of having
smaller states and to create two more
states, Telangana and Gorkhaland, if
they won the general election. GJM
supported the candidature of Jaswant
Singh of BJP, who won the Darjeeling
Lok Sabha seat with 51.5% votes in his
favour. In the July 2009 budget
session of Parliament, three
Parliamentarians— Rajiv Pratap Rudy ,
Sushma Swaraj and Jaswant Singh—
strongly pleaded for creating a state of
Gorkhaland.
The demand for Gorkhaland took a
new turn with the assassination of
Madan Tamang, leader of Akhil
Bharatiya Gorkha League. He was
stabbed to death allegedly by Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha supporters on 21
May 2010, in Darjeeling, which led to a
spontaneous shutdown in the three
Darjeeling hill sub-divisions of
Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
After the murder of Madan
Tamang, the West Bengal government
threatened action against Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha, whose senior
leaders are named in the FIR,
meanwhile hinting discontinuation of
ongoing talks over interim
arrangement with the Gorkha party,
saying it had "lost popular support
following the assassination".
On 8 February 2011, three GJM
activists were shot dead (one of whom
succumbed to her injuries later) by
the police as they tried to enter
Jalpaiguri district on a padyatra led by
Bimal Gurung from Gorubathan to
Jaigaon. This led to violence in the
Darjeeling hills and an indefinite strike
was called by GJM that lasted 9 days.
In the West Bengal state assembly
election, 2011
held on 18 April 2011, GJM candidates
won three Darjeeling hill assembly
seats, proving that the demand for
Gorkhaland was still strong in
Darjeeling. GJM candidates Trilok
Dewan won from Darjeeling
constituency , Harka Bahadur
Chhetri from Kalimpong constituency ,
and Rohit Sharma from Kurseong
constituency .Wilson
Champramari, an independent
candidate supported by GJM, also
won from Kalchini constituency in the
Dooars.
**Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
Main article:
Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration
The memorandum of agreement for
the formation of a Gorkhaland
Territorial Administration (GTA), a
semi-autonomous administrative body
for the Darjeeling hills, was signed on
18 July 2011. Earlier, during the
West Bengal assembly election (2011)
campaign, Mamata Banerjee had
promised that the issue of Gorkhaland
would be resolved. While Mamata
implied that this would be the end of
the Gorkhaland movement, Bimal
Gurung reiterated that this was just
another step towards statehood. Both
spoke publicly at the same venue in
Pintail Village near Siliguri , where the
tripartite agreement was signed.A
bill for the creation of GTA was passed
in the West Bengal Legislative
Assembly on 2 September 2011.
The West Bengal government issued a
gazette notification for the GTA Act
on 14 March 2012, signalling
preparations for elections for the GTA.
In the elections of the GTA held
on 29 July 2012, GJM candidates won
from 17 constituencies and the rest 28
seats unopposed.
On 30 July 2013, Gurung resigned
from the GTA citing both interference
from the West Bengal government and
the renewed agitation for Gorkhaland.
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