Language politics

DARJEELING and other hill areas of West Bengal have witnessed violent incidents lately resulting in the deployment of Central security forces with back-up support from the Army. Protests and violence necessitated an evacuation of tourists. It is a self-created injury caused by a Bengali Chief Minister trying to impose Bengali language and culture on a Gorkha land. The Gorkhas prefer to choose Nepali and Hindi over Bengali. Though Indians, Gorkhas are frequently treated as “foreigners” and subjected to racism. There is nothing common between Bengalis and Gorkhas, who resent what they regard as a cultural invasion spearheaded from Kolkata. They see the merger of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and other hill towns with Bengal as a historical mistake.

Though the statehood issue has been simmering for about 70 years, the fire was lit recently by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s apparently calculated announcement that Bengali would be compulsorily taught in all government schools. A violent reaction drove her to modify the decision, making Bengali an optional or second language. In the civic elections held earlier this year, Mamata’s Trinamool Congress had made a successful foray into Gorkhaland and captured the municipality at Mirik. Encouraged, TMC is trying to expand, attempting even to create fissures among various groupings of the Gorkhas ahead of elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. The Chief Minister has set up 19 welfare boards which locals see as a divisive move. When the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called for a shutdown last Monday, she struck hard. A break-in-service was ordered for employees not reporting for duty. The order will be in force till the agitation.

The crackdown had the opposite effect. It united all the Gorkha political outfits. An all-party-meeting was held last week on the GJM initiative which adopted a resolution for separate statehood. Even TMC ally Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) backed it. Aware of the economic loss on account of tourists staying away and local residents suffering hardships due to the indefinite bandh, the protesters have exempted schools, colleges, transport, hotels and shops from the shutdown. The hill leaders seek Central intervention. The BJP leadership in Delhi would not act until electoral considerations become favourable for the party.