Social Scientist

Ethnic Problems and Movements for Autonomy in Darjeeling Author(s): Atis Dasgupta Reviewed work(s): Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 27, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 1999), pp. 47-68 Published by: Social Scientist Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3518047 . Accessed: 12/11/2011 04:43
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ATISDASGUPTA*

Ethnic Problemsand Movementsfor Autonomy in Darjeeling

The complexities of the ethnic problems were embedded in the demandsand the resultantmovementsfor autonomywhich came to the surface from time to time in the district of Darjeelingin West Bengal. The trajectoryof this interlinkagecan be comprehensively analysed only if a systematicexplication of the differenthistorical stages of the whole process is undertaken.We will try to envisage such an explicationin this paper. Nestled as it were in the Singalilarangeof the easternHimalayas, the territory Darjeeling of historically belongedto Sikkimand Bhutan. From the beginning of the 19th century the English East India Companybeganto take active interestsin Darjeeling,and the whole territorycame under the Britishoccupation in three phases during the thirty years from 1835 to 1865. Duringthe first phase, in 1835, by a deed of grant, the Raja of Sikkimceded to the Britishrulers a portionof the Sikkimhills which coveredthe areassouth of the Great Rangit river,east of the Balasan,Kaheland Little Rangit riversand The secondphasefollowed rivers. west of the RangnuandMahananda a war with Sikkim which resulted in the annexation of Sikkim 'Morang'or 'Terai'at the foot hills as well as a portionof the Sikkim hills which was boundedby the Rammamriveron the north, by the GreatRangitandthe Tistariverson the east, and by the Nepal frontier on the west. This area had always been underSikkim,exceptingthe Morang or Teraiin the foot hills which was for a time (1788-1816) conqueredby Nepal. However,following the East India Company's victorious war with Nepal, this tract was ceded through the Treaty of Segauli (1816) to the British rulers who, in turn, temporarily returnedit to the Rajaof Sikkimby the Treatyof Titaliya(1817). As
* Professorand Head, SociologicalResearchUnit, IndianStatisticalInstitute,Calcutta. Social Scientist, Vol. 27, Nos. 11 - 12, Nov. - Dec. 1999

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indicatedabove, the Britishsoon began a war with Sikkimand the cededterritory was annexedby themwhichwas ratifiedby the Treaty of Tunlong (1861). The third phase was markedby the outbreakof the Anglo-Bhutan war which endedin the Treatyof Sinchulia(1865) and led to the Britishannexationof the hill tractwhich was situated to the east of the Tista river,the west of the Ne-chu and De-chu rivers,and the south of Sikkim.In otherwords, the total territoryof the present three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district - i.e., Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong sub-divisions - historically belonged to Sikkim and Bhutan before their annexation to British India. However, there is no recordedhistoricalevidence that these threehill sub-divisions wereevera partof Nepal. As mentionedabove, the Teraiportionof the Siligurisub-division(and not the hills in only the other sub-divisions)was for a short time conquered by Nepal from Sikkim,but was soon returnedto Sikkimin 1816, long before the districtof Darjeelingtook shape. The thrustof the EnglishEastIndiaCompanytowardsDarjeeling and the adjacentregionwas motivatedby severalfactors.One of the major reasons emanated from the geo-political importance of commercial as Darjeeling beinga partof Sikkimwith whichthe British compulsions were also closely associated. Throughout the 19th tradewith Tibetand Central in centurythe Britishinterest the overland Asia and the concomitant urgency for safeguardingthe northern borderof India againstChinaand Tibet turnedout to be the guiding parametersin the British policy towards the kingdoms of Sikkim, Bhutanand Nepal. Sikkimwas of specialinterestto the Englishrulers becauseof its strategic position.The bordersof the kingdomof Sikkim touched China, Nepal, Bhutan and India. The small kingdom trade route which was commanded the historic Kalimpong-Lhasa the shortestone fromIndiato the heartof Tibet.Two main rangesof the Himalayas - the Singalilarange and the Chola range - enclosed Sikkim on the north of Darjeelingdistrict and it was bounded on eitherside by Nepal and Bhutan.In the wake of the Gorkhaconquest of Nepal led by Prithvinarayan Shah,the Britishrulerswere obliged, since the closing decadesof the 18th century,to shift a majorvolume of their trade with Tibet and Central Asia through Sikkim to the ChumbiValleyand thenceto Lhasaand CentralAsia. However,after the successfulconclusion of Anglo-Nepalwar throughthe Treatyof Segauli(1816), the Englishrulerswere able to contain the territorial ambitionof the Gorkhakings of Nepal who hence forwardbeganto maintaina friendlyrelationwith BritishIndia. With the annexation

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of DarjeelingfromSikkimand Bhutanand the containmentof Nepal, the Englishtradersstartedto increasetradewith Sikkim,Nepal, and Tibet through Darjeeling.While the import items included horses, blankets,tea,tar, coal, wool musk, musical instrumentsand shoes, the export itemsconsistedof European piece-goods,rice,salt, indigo, brass and copper wares, tobacco etc. Throughoutthe 19th century, the volume of trade throughDarjeelingwent on increasingand the prospectsof the CentralAsiantradethroughthe Himalayasappeared to be more alluring. The friendly relationship between. British India and Nepal graduallybecame a subservientone which providedanother major factor for the Britishthrusttowards Darjeeling.AfterJung Bahadur Rana (1846-77), the PrimeMinisterof Nepal, replacedthe Gorkha Kingby makinghim only a tutelarentity,the processof subservience to the Englishrulerswas set in motion.JungBahadur only offered not the British Governmentmilitary assistance in the Anglo-Sikhwar (1848-49) but himselfappearedat the head of 9000 Nepali soldiers to help the English suppressthe Great Sepoy Revolt in 1857 and rescuedLucknowfrom the rebel hands. This mercenaryrole of the Nepali soldiers motivated the Britishrulers to use Darjeelingas a permanent recruiting centre for the British Indian Army. The recruits recruitment the Gorkhas(allcategoriesof Nepali-speaking of were known as 'Gorkha'in the BritishIndianArmy)had started in the second half of the 19th century. Pleading for more recruiting of E. centresat Darjeeling, Drummend, then Magistrate Dinajpur, the the Government of Bengal to increase the Nepali urged upon recruitment "theywould in everyway be moreefficient,courageous as and trustworthybody of men than any to be had in the plains".This was the beginningof the formulationof "martialrace"theorywhich LordRoberts,Commander-in-Chief the IndianArmy(1885-1893), of would subsequentlymake the corner-stoneof the Britishrecruiting policy in armed forces. Lord Robertswrote: "the first step towards improvingthe qualityof armywas to substitutemen of morewarlike and hardy races for the Hindusthanisepoys of Bengal, the Tamils The and Telugusof Madrasand the so-calledMarathasof Bombay." in the post-SepoyRevolt underlyingcompulsionof the Britishrulers period was to recruit "loyal" Nepali soldiers who would not be affected by the incipient nationalist feelings which were distinctly found among the Indian sepoys during the Revolt of 1857. Consequently,the increasein the numberof the Gorkha battalions became was dramatic; fromfive in 1862 to twentyin 1914. Darjeeling

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an importantrecruiting centrefor thesebattalionsbecausethe Nepali rulersin Kathmandudid not initially favourrecruitment Gorkha of soldiers for IndianArmyfrom within Nepal. The next major factor which motivatedthe drive of the British rulers towards Darjeelingwas the possibility of the growth of tea had industryin the district.In 1834 LordWilliamBentinck appointed a committeeto suggestways and means for developingtea industry in India. In 1841 Dr. Campbellstartedin Darjeelingthe experiment of growingtea plantwith a few seedsfromChinesestock. Campbell's experimentfollowed the progressreportof Jacksonon tea plantation in Darjeeling. cultivationon commercial Tea scalebeganin the district from 1856 onwards and the industry flourished rapidly which attractedthe Britishplantersin considerablenumber.The following table would show the rate of growth of tea industryin Darjeeling duringthe second half of the 19th century. Year No. of gardens
1866 1870 1885 1895 39 113 175 186

Area under
cultivation (in acres) 10,000 18,888 38,499 48,692

Net production (in Lbs)

4,33,000 39,28,000 90,90,000 1,17,14,551

1907) (Source:DarjeelingdistrictGazetteers,by L.S.S.O'Mally,

Along with tea plantation, the prospects of forest products and cinchona plantation had also attracted the Britishers. The most remarkable feature of the forests of Darjeeling, which constituted more than 90 per cent of the hill areas of the district in mid-19th century and which even now cover 54 per cent of the hill region of the district, has been the amazing variety of species laden with immense possibilities of commercial utilisation. The last, but not the least, important factor which had initially encouraged the English East India Company to move towards Darjeeling was the possibility of setting up a sanatorium and health resort for the British officials and businessmen in the cool climate of the Sikkim hills. In 1829-30 two officials of the East India Company - Lt. Col. Lloyd and J.W. Grant (Commercial Resident of Maldah) explored the places in the Sikkim hills and recommended Darjeeling for the location of a suitable sanatorium. They suggested to the authorities of the East India Company that Darjeeling, compared to

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the hill stationsin Shimla,Almorah,Nainital and Shillong,would be considerablynearerto Calcuttawhich, throughoutthe 19th century, was regardedas the main metropolisfor the Britishsettlersin India. As indicated earlier,on February1, 1835, the Raja of Sikkim was persuadedto cede to the EastIndiaCompanythe Darjeelinghill tract undera deedof grantfor the specificpurposeof "enabling" British the from sickness, to avail themselves of" the officers, "suffering "advantages" of the "cool climate" of "the hill of Darjeeling". to Preparations developDarjeelingas a sanatoriumand healthresort continued at a brisk pace. Between 1839 and 1842, the Pankhabari Road to Darjeeling throughthe virginforestof Teraiwas constructed by a young lieutenantof the Royal Engineers,who later on became Lord Napier of Magdala. The constructionof the Hill Cart Road began in 1861 and was completedin 1866 at a cost of nearlyRs. 15 lakhs.Therewas a spurtof constructionof buildingson the ridgesof hill schools,bungalows,hospitals churches, Darjeeling whichincluded and theatre halls for the use of the Britishand other Europeansof Calcutta.This processof development also graduallyencouragedthe of tourismin Darjeeling. growth When in 1829 Lloyd and Grant,the two officials of the English East India Company,first visited Darjeeling(then known as the Old in households andaround GurkhaStation),theyhadseena few Lepcha the place. But they did not find any Nepali inhabitant.Similarlyin 1835 when the East IndiaCompanyfirst acquiredthe nucleusof the Darjeelingdistrict from the Raja of Sikkim, there was no Nepali household.The hill tractwas, then, almost entirelyunderforest and containeda small populationof one hundredLepchaswho were the of The spokea language Tibetooriginalsettlersin Darjeeling. Lepchas Burman origin and came under the religious influence of the Indo-Tibetan or Lamaist Buddhism. Dr. Campbell, the first of Superintendent Darjeeling,reportedin 1850 that the total number of inhabitantsin the districthad risento 10,000. The ethnic majority of the Lepchas began to be rapidly outnumberedby the migrants from Nepal. The rapid influx of the Nepalis was also noted by Sir JosephHookerwhen he visitedDarjeelingin 1850-51. Whenin 1869 a rough census was taken of the inhabitantsof the district,the total was found to be over 22,000. In 1872, the first Census of India was published and the total population of Darjeeling appeared to have steadily increased to 94,712. In 1876 W.W.Hunter wrote in his 'StatisticalAccount of Bengal' (Volume X): "The Nepalis, who form 34 percent of the

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fromthe state of Nepal. populationof the district,are all immigrants They are a pushing,thrivingrace...".The Nepalis, though 'pushing' and 'thriving', were yet to be the majority ethnic group in the district.However,the migrationfrom Nepal populationof Darjeeling went on unabatedand by the time of the second Census of India in 1881, the Nepalis formedthe absolutemajoritynot only in the three hill sub-divisionsbut also in the whole district of Darjeeling.The of followingtablewould indicatethe patternof the increase the Nepali population in Darjeelingduringthe period from 1881 to 1941:
Year Total population in the whole district of Darjeeling 1,55,179 2,23,314 2,49,117 2,65,550 2,82,748 3,19,635 3,76,369 Total population in three hill sub- divisions of the district 92,141 1,50,311 1,73,342 1,89,763 2,06,961 2,39,377 2,86,355 Total number of Nepali-speaking population in the district. 88,000 1,34,000 1,52,167 1,66,974 1,61,308 1,75,285 2,23,888

1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941

Source:Censusof IndiaReports

The migrationfromNepal continuedas beforeand, in 1931, out of a total population of 3,19,635 in the whole district, 59,016 had migratedfromNepal. From1951 onwards,followingthe Indo-Nepal Treatyof Peace and Friendship(1950), there was visible reluctance among the Nepalis to divulge the place of birth. But the sudden district,from 3,28,785 upswingof the populationfigurein Darjeeling the in 1951 to 4,64,762 in 1961 underscored quantumof migration from Nepal to Darjeeling. of The ethniccompositionof the threehill sub-divisions Darjeeling, which had, thus, undergonea sea-changesincethe middleof the 19th centurytill the presenttimes, was evidentlycaused by the waves of massive migrationfrom Nepal which, in turn, emanatedfrom three major factors. In the first place, the ascendancyof Prithvinarayan Shah, the founder of Gorkha dynasty,in Kathmanduin the second half of the 18th century unleashedan aggressivedrive of the high caste Hindu monarchyof Nepal for centralisationand expansion. This drivecausedconsiderablesocio-economictensionsinsideNepal and imposed a series of repressive measures in order to ensure domination of the high caste Hindu Nepalis over the Buddhistand

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other non-HinduNepali tribesand communities.In the Kiratregion of Nepal, in particular,the tribal land tenure was marked by the system of 'Kipat'landholdingwhich was a kind of communityland ownership system. Such 'Kipat' lands, which were vested in a alienated.But the particularethnic group, could not be permanently Gorkha rulers, after they had establishedtheir supremacyover the Kirat region in eastern Nepal, changed the collective ownership of the 'Kipat'lands into the royal possession,makingthe Nepali tribes of the region landless.The Nepali communitiesin the Kiratregion, such as the Rais, the Limbus,the Gurungsand the Tamangs,were downgradedto the status of 'Sudra'in the Nepali Hindu society, making them vulnerableto the oppressionsof the Brahminand the invitedserious castes.Non-conformityto Hindu scriptures Kshatriya known as 'panchakhat', which includedconfiscationof punishment and banishment, mutilation,enslavement even death.Faced property, with theserepressive of a largenumber Rai,Limbu,Gurung, measures, Tamang and other low-caste Nepalis started migration from the easternregionof Nepal. AfterDarjeeling passedinto the Britishhands in the first half of the 19th century,the above Nepali communities found the hill sub-divisionsof Darjeelinga convenientand accessible place for settlement. of A secondmajorfactororiginated fromthe inclination the British in general,and the willingnessof the Englishtea planters,in rulers, particular,to encourage settlement of the Nepali migrants as the plantation workers in the tea gardens of the hill sub-divisions of and Darjeeling.The Nepali migrantswere hardworking could adapt themselvesto the workingconditionsof the tea gardenswhich were situatedat the high altitudein the hills of Darjeeling,Kalimpongand Kurseong.Forthe tea gardensin the Teraiplains,the Englishplanters would prefer the tribals from the Chhotanagpurregion of Bihar such as the Santalsand the Oraons - who began to be employed as indenturedlabourers. However, because of their poverty-stricken background,both the Nepali migrantsand the tribals from Bihar could be recruitedby the British planters with low remuneration throughoutthe second half of the 19th centuryand the earlydecades the of the presentcentury.As indicatedearlier, tea industryflourished in in Darjeeling rapidlyin the initialphase.Thisresulted a considerable number of recruitmentat the level of plantation workers and the of Thoughthe growth majority themcamefromNepal as the migrants. of tea industrytended to slow down from the early decades of the present century,the total number of workers employed in the tea

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the gardensof the hill sub-divisions (excluding Teraiplains)amounted to 60,979 as late as in 1961. Once the tea industrydevelopedin the second half of the 19th century,this led to the growth of ancillary economic activities in Darjeelingand created a demand for more immigrants,many of whom now took to agriculture.Presentlythe census data indicate that one-thirdof the total working population of Darjeeling district are engaged in activities connected with plantations, orchards, forestry and livestock, that one-third are occupied in agriculturalactivities, and that another 8 per cent are involvedas agricultural The labourers. restof the workingpopulation are engaged in manufacturing,construction, mining, trading and various serviceactivities. The third majorfactor which encouragedmigrationfrom Nepal to Darjeeling the British was policyto enlistthe Nepalisforthe Gorkha Battalions in the Indian army through the recruiting centre in Darjeelingduringthe post-SepoyRevolt period.The basic reason,as indicated earlier,was the Britishrecognitionof the Gorkha loyalty which was amply proved duringthe Sepoy Revolt of 1857. In 1863 the Sappers Minersstationedat Darjeeling and werecomposedalmost of the migrantNepalis. As therewas initial reluctanceon the entirely part of the Nepali rulersat Kathmanduto allow enlistmentfor the of BritishIndianArmywithinNepal, the migration the Nepalistended to increasefor the attraction militaryrecruitment of throughthe Army centres in Darjeeling.The Britishrulersalso encouragedthe Nepali migrantsfor recruitmentin the police service as well as in various constructionworks which were connectedwith the growth process of Darjeelingas a sanatoriumand a tourist centre. As a cumulative result,the Censusdata indicatedthat, in 1881, out of 1,55,179 which was the total populationof Darjeelingdistrict,88,000 people of the district were recordedto have been born in Nepal, while the total population in the three hill sub-divisions amounted to 92,141. It should be furthernoted that, accordingto the Censusdata, the total numberof Nepal-bornpopulationin India in 1881 was 2,23,314. to As regards as Darjeeling well as with regard Sikkimand Bhutan, the encouragement, whichthe Britishrulershad so explicitlyextended to the Nepali migrants throughoutthe secondhalfof the 19th century and in the subsequentperiod,originatedfrom the colonial design to outbalance the original ethnic domination of the Lepchas and the Bhutiasin the region. In the Britishcolonial perception,the Lepchas and the Bhutiaswere unlikelyto shift theirloyalty fromTibet as they were strongly integratedby a common heritage,religion, language

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and culture. All of them belonged to the Tibeto-Burmanlanguage On groupand adheredto the religionof LamaistBuddhism. the other hand, the Nepalis had not only proved their loyalty to the British duringthe Sepoy Revolt of 1857 but also they were mostly Hindus. Dr. Campbell pointed out this Hindu religious anchorage of the Nepalis and wrote in his diary in the middle of 19th century:"The Britishwere keen that the Nepalis should settle in newly acquired land in Darjeelingbecause they were considered to be traditional The Bhutias". British Tibetans the Buddhist and enemyof the Buddhist found in the Nepali immigrantsa group of loyal subjects whose allegiancewould lie with the Britishand not with the Dalai Lamaof Tibet. In Bhutanand Sikkim, the Englishrulers sought to create a subservient Nepali land-owning class in order to counteract the traditional predominance of the Tibetan and the Bhutia landed In aristocracy. The Gazetteerof Sikkim(1894), H.H. Risleyspelt out the colonial objectiveunderlyingthe British-sponsored migrationof the Nepalis: "Influxof the hereditaryenemies of Tibet is our surest guaranteeagainstrevivalof Tibetaninfluence.Here the religionwill play a leadingrole. Hinduismwill assuredlycast out Buddhism." The rapidemergenceof the dominantposition of the Nepalis in the ethnic composition of Darjeelingduring the second half of the 19th centurywas graduallyaccompanied the settlementof a small by number of Bengali middle class families from the plains in administrative servicesand learnedprofessionsin the urbanareasof the hill sub-divisionsas well as in managerialand clericalservicesin the tea gardens.The Biharisand the Marwarisalso beganto settle in small numbers as the dealers in wholesale and retail trade of the district. However, by 1941, the population figures of the Bengalis, the Biharis,the Marwarisand the otherscoming from the plains did not constitute more than 5.1 per cent of the total population in the three hill sub-divisions of the district, while 86.8 per cent of the The wereNepali-speaking. otherhillmenandthe scheduled population cent. On the other hand, in the Siliguri castes formedanother8.1 per sub-divisionof Darjeelingdistrict,which mostly includedthe plains and a part of the Teraiforests and a segmentof the tea gardens,the Bengalis constituted majority of the population which tended to increasefurtherafterthe influxof the refugeesfollowingthe partition of Bengalin 1947. In spite of the above ethnic complexitiesof Darjeelingdistrict,a composite culturebeganto take shape in the three hill sub-divisions from the beginningof the presentcentury.The bond of unity was

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providedby the Nepali languagewhich, in Nepal, used to be known or as 'Khaskura' 'Gorkha'sincethe end of the 17th century.In Nepal, confinedto the upper however,'Khaskura' languagemostlyremained castes of Brahmin-Chetris even after the Gorkhaascendancyunder Shah and it could not easily form a link for linguistic Prithvinaryan or culturalaffinitywith the variouslow-casteethnicgroupsof Nepal who spoke Tibeto-Burman languages.Butin Darjeelingthe situation was altogetherdifferent.The low-casteNepali migrantslike the Rais, the Limbus,the Pradhans,the Gurungs,the Tamangsand the Kirats, who spoke Tibeto-Burman dialects, picked up as a second language 'Khaskura'Nepali of the upper-casteBrahminsand the Chetris. In India, in general, and in Darjeeling,in particular,Nepali language graduallyforged a bond of culturalunity and an ethnic link among variousgroupswho had migratedfromNepal. Eventhe Lepchasand Bhutias,in spite of their religiousand linguisticdifferenceswith the Nepalis, slowly but ultimatelyacceptedNepali as the lingua franca in the hill sub-divisions Darjeeling. overwhelming of The demographic predominanceof the Nepalis, which becamea hard reality towards of the end of the 19th century, contributed this acceptability Nepali to factorwas as the linguafranca.Anothermajorcontributing language the steady permeationof the process of Sankritisationamong the low-caste Nepali migrants.With the gradualincreasein the number of the upper-casteChetri and Brahminmigrantsfrom Nepal since the beginningof the present century,the Hindu places of worship started coming up in Darjeelingwhich subsequentlyoutnumbered the Buddhist monasteries. courseof time,the influenceof Buddhism In on the low-caste Nepalis like the Tamangs,the Rais and the Limbus Hinduism.Even embraced beganto wane and most of themgradually a section of the Lepchascould not ultimatelyavoid this process of Sankritisation.Ethnicunity was furtherreinforcedin Darjeelingby the settlementof a large numberof retiredNepali officers of British Indian Army as well as Nepali police personnel, as a part of the conscious Britishpolicy of creatinga segmentof "loyal"immigrants in the hill sub-divisionsof the district. Thougha compositeNepali culturewas strikingits earlyroots in Darjeeling, the Nepali communities remained stratified along economic lines. Among them, the aristocratic elements were by represented the landholdingclass and the retiredarmyand police officials, while the other major strata were formed by the middle class service-holdersand small traders and by the working class consisting of plantation and constructionworkers as well as small

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labourers. ethnicidentityof the Nepalis The peasantsand agricultural stroveto cut acrossthesemajoreconomicstrataand soughtto express itself in two distinctstreams,which sometimesflowed together.The first one pivotedaroundthe spreadof Nepali languageand literature which becamethe focal point for the compositeethniccultureof the hill sub-divisions of the district. In the second stream, the ethnic identity of the Nepalis was, expressedin terms of an exclusiveness which graduallytook shape through demandsfor various forms of autonomy for Darjeeling. The move to improve Nepali language was initiated by the Christianmissionariesat Seramporein Hooghly district of Bengal duringthe 1820s. A grammarof Nepali languagewas publishedby them. Later on Rev. William Macfarlane introduced Nepali as a languagein the schools which he establishedin Darjeeling.However, all these efforts of the Christianmissionarieswere mostly motivated by their proselytizingzeal. Rev. Ganga PrasadPradhan,one of the the translated Bibleinto Nepali earliestNepaliconvertsto Christianity, language. It was only after the emergenceof a middle class Nepali literatiled by the personalitieslike Parasmoni Pradhan,Dharanidhar Koiralaand SuryaBikramGewali that the ethnicculturalidentityof the Nepalis of Darjeelingbegan to assert itself. It was because of their efforts that in 1918 CalcuttaUniversityrecognisedNepali as a vernacular language for the purpose of composition in the and Intermediate B.A.examinations.In 1920, the first Matriculation, authentic revision of the Nepali grammarwas done by Parasmoni Pradhan, who himself was an Inspector of Schools. Dharanidhar Koiralacomposed simple poems dealing with the themes of social reforms,urgingall Nepalis to the task of nationalawakening.Surya BikramGewali, in his writings,gave a nationalistperspectiveon the Nepali royal and martialheroes.This literarymovementwas further of by strengthened the publication a Nepali monthlypaperChandrika Pradhanin 1918. However,it was in which was edited by Parasmoni 1901 that the firstNepali journalwas publishedfromDarjeelingand it was entitled as Gorkha KhabarKagat.The famous Gorkhapatra was simultaneouslypublishedfrom Nepal. The journals,published from 1900 to 1940, concentratedon differentaspects of the Nepali society, culture and language.The social evils were criticisedand a radicalchange in the social outlook was advocated.Nepali Sahitya SammelanPatra,publishedin 1932, contributedto the development of serious prose in the language. Along with the growth of literarymovementfor Nepali cultural

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was identity,ethnicexclusiveness also expressedthroughthe demands for autonomy in Darjeelingwhich were not always homogeneousin nature.At leastthreetypescouldbe discernible tended which,however, to convergeon certainoccasions. The first type was initially voiced by the retiredNepali army and police officers, who were supported by the Nepali landed aristocratsand rich traders.They submitteda memorandumin 1907 to the BritishGovernment,pleadingfor the creation of a separateadministrative entitity for Darjeelingoutside Bengalbut within the BritishIndianEmpire.These elitist Nepalis of Darjeeling were subsequently supported by a small group of aristocraticTibetan and Bhutiafamiliesand all of them formed the Hillmen'sAssociationunderthe leadership S.W.Ladenlawho was of an Additional Superintendent Police in Darjeelingand also the of Aide-de-Campof the BritishGovernorof Bengalfor a while. When EdwinMontague,the BritishSecretary State,visitedIndiain 1917, of the Hillmen's Association submitted a memorandumto the Chief Secretary of Bengal, demanding a separate administrative unit comprising "the present Darjeeling district and the portion of Jalpaiguridistrict which was annexed from Bhutanin 1865". This elitist organisationwas extremelyloyal to the Britishrulerswho had also openly encouragedthese upper strata of Darjeelinghillmen to voice their demand for separationfrom Bengalin order to insulate which movements the Nepalisfromthe militantanti-British nationalist were, then, spreading in different districts of Bengal. The memorandumof the Hillmen'sAssociation was also supported by the Englishplantersin a meetingheld in Darjeelingin March 1920 in orderto protectthe Britishinterestsin the tea gardensof the district from the possibility of labour agitation which could be associated with the trade union activities from the plains. In the subsequent period, the Hillmen's Association continued with their separatist demands and presentedmemorandato the British Governmentin 1930 and in 1941. Another petition was placed by them to SirJohn Anderson,the Governorof Bengal,in 1934. At that time, the militant nationalists of Bengal, particularlythose who belonged to the Dacca Anusilan Samiti,were tryingto assassinatethe BritishGovernorfor his brutal repressive measures unleashed against the activists of the Civil DisobedienceMovement.The following extractsare given from the of memorandum the Hillmen'sAssociation,which was submittedto the Governorat Darjeelingshortlybeforethe historicattempton his life which was made by the daringmembersof the Dacca Anusitan

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Samiti at the Lebond Race Course on May 8, 1934. The extracts would indicatethe docileloyaltyof the representatives the Hillmen's of Association expressed to the Britishrulers as well as their apathy towards the militantnationalistmovement:
We are sure that your Excellencywill find a congenialatmospherein will the bracingclimateof thesehillsand yourExcellency undoubtedly feel a happychangehereespeciallyafterheatedpoliticalcontroversies which characterise in the plains below. We are not so ambitious life as... the extremist politicalpartyin the plains.WeassureyourExcellency of our readinessto any call on our people at all times and in any emergency. Though the appeal of the Hillmen's Association for creating a separate administrative unit for Darjeeling was not immediately realised, their repeated demand for separation from Bengal sowed the seeds of a cleavage between the Nepalis of the hill sub-divisions in Darjeeling and the inhabitants of Bengal in the plains. The second type of demand for autonomy was formulated by the educated Nepali middle class of Darjeeling which differed from the elitist perception of the pro-BritishHillmen's Association. This middle class was led by the educationists like Parasmoni Pradhan whose pivotal interest, as mentioned earlier, was to nourish Nepali ethnic identity and the incipient nationalism by developing Nepali literature. At a meeting in Kalimpong held in 1920, Parasmoni Pradhan and his supporters objected to the Hillmen's Association's plea for separation from Bengal which, they argued, would perpetuate the backwardness of the poor Nepalis. In the same year Parasmoni Pradhan and other eminent representativesof the Nepali middle class submitted a separate memorandum to the British Government, demanding the regional autonomy of Darjeeling within the province of Bengal. A few representatives of this class took part in the Swadeshi movement and had connections with the militant nationalists of Bengal. A journal Gorkha-Sathi, which was published from Calcutta in 1906 for the dissemination of nationalist ideas among the Nepalis, was banned by the British Government. Another section of the educated Nepalis, led by Dal Bahadur Giri, took the lead in spreading the Gandhian NonCooperation Movement in the tea estates. The untimely death of Dal Bahadur, after his release from prison in 1923, was condoled by Gandhi himself at the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress in 1924. The third type of demand for autonomy grew out of the Communist-led movements of the Nepali working class engaged in

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tea plantationwho were also supportedby the poor peasantsof the districtand a section of the Nepali middleclass. SushilChatterjee,a leading member of the undividedCommunistParty of India, took initiativeto organisethe tea gardenworkersand, in a sense, particular the popularmantleof Dal BahadurGiridescendedon this plainsman in who devotedhimselffor the upliftof the ruralproletariat Darjeeling. From the beginningof the 1940s, he got able assistancefrom the Communist activists of the district such as Ratanlal Brahman, and GaneshlalSubbah,Bhadrabahadur Hamaland CharuMazumder nationalistmovement all of themsoughtto deepenthe anti-imperialist with the active participationof the plantationworkersand the poor peasantsof Darjeelingdistrict.As far as the demandfor autonomyof the districtwas concerned,the above Communistsstood for regional autonomywithin Bengaland strove to expand its social base on the specific premisesof class struggle. The above gamutof variousdemandsfor autonomy began to be of morecrystallized becauseof the aggravation theeconomicproblems in the hill sub-divisionsduringthe last decade of the colonial rule. This economic deteriorationwas associatedwith the impact of the in SecondWorldWarandit was manifested the declinein employment opportunitiesin the tea gardens, in the wanton destructionof the of and richforestresources, in theconstriction recruitment possibilities of in the service sector. In this backgroundthe representatives the Nepali middle class came forwardto form, underthe leadershipof DambarSinghGurung,a new political partyin 1943 which came to be known as the All-IndiaGorkha League.The growth of the AllIndia Gorkha League signalled the gradual demise of the elitist organisationslike the Hillmen'sAssociation,and the GorkhaLeague beganto put forwardthe demandfor autonomywith a broadersocial base. Duringthe SecondWorldWar,afterthe fall of the BritishEmpire in Singaporeand Burmain face of the onslaughts of the Japanese army,a large numberof Indianprisonersof war, till then belonging in to the BritishIndianArmy,cameforwardfor recruitment the Indian in NationalArmyor INA whichwas fightingagainstthe British Burma of SubhasChandraBose. At this time, several under the leadership Indian Nepali soldiers joined the INA and enriched the freedom loyalist tradition struggleof Indiain sharpcontrastto the pro-British of the retiredNepali armyofficialswho had floatedthe organisations like the Hillmen'sAssociation in Darjeeling.Captain Durga Malla and Major Dal BahadurThapa (both from the village of Bhakshuin

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Kalimpong sub-division) were ultimately captured by the British and duringthe War,court-martialled hanged:Mal!aon 29th August, 1944 and Thapa on 9th March 1945 (in Tihar Jail, Delhi), some months before the beginningor the historic INA trials at the Red Fort. Another INA officer, Captain Ram Singh Thakuri, became famous as the composerof the popularmarchingsongs of the INA. OthereminentNepali officersin INA includedColonelDilmanSingh Thapa and Major PuranSinghKhawas. In the turbulentpost-Wardays when the BritishEmpirebeganto crumblein India, the electionswere held in 1946 for the Legislative Assemblyin Bengaland in other provincesunderthe Governmentof India Act of 1935. So far as the two constituenciesof Darjeeling were concerned, Dambar, Singh Gurung was elected from the thena young whileRatanlal Brahman, Darjeeling general constituency, Communistleader of the district, won from Darjee!ingSadar subdivision constituencyof the tea garden workers. This was the first It electoralvictoryof a NepaliCommunist leaderin Darjeeling. should be noted that RatanlalBrahman, along with GaneshlalSubba,sent a memorandum to the Constituent Assembly on April 6, 1947, formulatingthe demandsof regional autonomy and projectingthe issue of Nepali nationalityin Darjeelingand in the adjacentareas in of the contextof the urgentsocio-economic problems the regionwhich had continually remained neglected under the repressive British colonial rule. As far as the All-IndiaGorkhaLeaguewas concerned, the party was trying to maintain its middle class base and, at the same time, reachingout for a trade union front, having to face the amongthe masses.Its sponsorship competitionfromthe Communists of a ShramikSanghawas started by young Deo PrakashRai, who shiftedthe GorkhaLeagueto a more decisivestand acceptingIndian nationality,yet not giving up the cause of relativeautonomy within West Bengal. of On the heels of Independence the countrycame the partition of Bengal,and the Governmentof Indiatried to be initiallycautious of against furtherdismemberment West Bengal.In face of this stiff varioustypes of demandsfor autonomyof Darjeelingbegan attitude, to converge in the 1950s and the 1960s and tended to pivot round the movementsfor the recognitionof Nepali languagein the Eighth Scheduleof the Indian Constitutionas well as for the autonomous status of Darjeelingwithin the provinceof WestBengal.In the mean time, the State Government of West Bengal passed the official LanguageAct in 1961, accepting the amendmentbrought by Deo

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Prakash Rai of the All-India Gorkha League to give official language status to Nepali in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling. This bill was expectedly supported by all political parties in West Bengal. The inclusion of Nepali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution emerged as a major ethnic issue when Professor Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, as a member of the Official Language Commission formed by the Government of India in 1955, advocated in his minority report the inclusion of Sindhi and Nepali in the Eighth Schedule. As many as 74 members of the Parliament supported this inclusion, but the Government of India did not follow up the case of Nepali. This discrimination created a deep frustration among the Nepali middle class of Darjeeling. In a conscious effort to organise a sustained movement for the constitutional recognition of Nepali language, the All-India Nepali Bhasa Samiti was formed on January 31, 1972. Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India as well as the All-India Gorkha League extended sincere cooperation to the various positive programmes and agitational activities of the All-India Nepali Bhasa Samiti in an organised manner. At this stage, the intervention of certain factors resulted in a shift of emphasis in the movements for autonomy in Darjeeling and gradually the demand for a separate Gorkhaland came into the forefront. In the first place, during IndiraGandhi'spremiership,Sikkim was made a constituent unit of India on April 10, 1975, and soon after, on May 16, 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union. As in terms of population and area Darjeeling happened to be considerably bigger than Sikkim, the Statehood of the latter rekindled the ethnic aspiration of the Nepalis for re-emphasising the need for niaking Darjeeling an autonomous province like Sikkim. Secondly, while this aspiration was not immediately realised, the Nepali psyche was bitterly hurt when Morarji Desai, as the Prime Minister, made a public statement in 1979 that he would not recommend the inclusion of Nepali in the Eighth Schedule because he considered Nepali to be a 'foreign' language. Almost a similar derogatory remark was made in 1956 by B.G. Kher,the then Chairman of the Official Language Commission, and its repetition by the Prime Minister caused serious frustration among the Nepalis in Darjeeling. They also became suspicious about the perception of the Government of India, as they recollected with bitterness that Vallabbhai Patel had written to Jawaharlal Nehru on November 7, 1950: "The people inhabiting this portion have no established loyalty or devotion to India. Even Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas are not free from pro-

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Suchindiscreteand somewhatirresponsible Mongoloid prejudices". statementson the partof the leaderswho were at the helm of affairs of of the Government Indiaalienatedthe sensitivemindsof the Nepali educatedmiddleclass who beganto move away from their moderate and legitimate demand so long articulated for the constitutional recognitionof their language.It is, however,significantto note that the StateAssemblies WestBengal(inJuly,1977), Sikkim(in October, of and Tripura(in June, 1978) resolved that Nepali language 1977) should be includedin the EighthScheduleof the IndianConstitution. The resolutions of the Left-dominatedAssembliesof West Bengal and Tripurawere in tune with the Communistcooperation so long extended to the All-IndiaNepali BhasaSamitiin its strugglefor the constitutionalrecognitionof Nepali language.The resolutionof the SikkimAssemblywas ensuredby the presenceof the Nepali-speaking memberswho formedthe majorityin the same Assembly. Thirdly, Rajiv Gandhi, during his premiership, allowed the creationof moresmallprovincesin North-EastIndiain the 1980s on the groundof ethnic consideration,and concessionswere also given to the militant ethnic movements in Mizoram and Assam. These decisions encouragedethnic militancyamong the Nepalis to strive for the creation of an autonomous small province in Darjeeling through a course of violent confrontation.That apart, the political eclipse of the All-IndiaGorkha Leaguefollowing the death of Deo weaknessof the Prantiya PrakashRai in 1983 and the organisational Parishadduring1983-85 pavedthe way for the emergenceof a more militantorganisationsuch as the GorkhaNational LiberationFront (GNLF) under the leadershipof SubhasGhising. The expulsion of the Nepalis from Meghalayain the early months of 1986 played on theirstatusin India the anxietyof the Nepalis in Darjeeling regarding and, in the process,helpedGhisingto gatherfurthersupportaround him in unleashingthe movement for the formation of Gorkhaland outside the provinceof West Bengal. The GNLF movement was marked by certain special features which were not found in the earlier movements for autonomy organised in Darjeelingsince the beginningof the presentcentury. Forexample,SubhasGhisingsoughtthe supportof the Kingof Nepal and sent appealsto some other Heads of the countriesas well as to the United Nations seekingtheir cooperationfor the movementfor Gorkhaland.In fact, he receivedfinancialhelp from Nepal on a few occasions, though the King himself did not meet him. There were also allegations that he maintained indirect connections with the

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imperialist agencies who have been engaged in the diabolical programmesfor destablisingNorth-EastIndia. From the beginning the GNLF movement opted for armed forceswho also confrontationwith the Statepolice and para-military retaliatedwith occasionalexcesses. It is clearfrom the seizurelists of the WestBengalpolicethatSubhasGhisingand his followersprocured a considerableamountof unauthorised armsand ammunition.After the two yearsof confrontation(1986-88), they surrendered following items: 6910 pipe guns, 101 SBBL, 66 DBBL, 5 rifles (.303), 12 revolvers (.22), 3 revolvers (.38), 5 stenguns, 54 SBML,2 DBML, 554 imported (.45), 58 handgrenades, pistols,8 R/Spistols,3 revolvers 22 importedairguns,63 importedcanon, 1 rifle (.79), 1 rifle (7.62), 1 airpistol, 1 tear gas gun, 12 bore rifles, 38 special pistols and 38 MM grenade (7.16). They also surrendered following items of the ammunition: 45 artillery shells, 11,000 bombs and mines, 1000 detonators, 300 gelatine sticks and thousands of ammunition for various types of fire arms. It is significant that the retired Nepali army officers and ex-service men have always enjoyed the close confidence of Ghisingand they dominatedthe central leadershipof GNLF duringthe agitation and even after. Ghisingconsideredthe Statepolice forcesand the Nepali CPI(M) activistsas well as the organised employeesandthe tea gardenworkers to be his main enemies in Darjeelingand selectedthem as the target for his leathalattacks.The Nepali CPI(M)activistsof Darjeeling along with the organisedplantationworkers,put up a stiff resistancein the midst of immensedifficultiesin the hills. The leadersof the All-India Nepali Bhasa Samiti also did not escape the wrath of Ghising. It is noteworthythat Ghisingdid not put muchemphasison the traditional demandfor inclusionof Nepali languagein the EighthSchedule.His main thrustwas to regain,for his promisedGorkhaland,all the hills and the Teraiarea of Darjeelingdistrictwhich were ceded by Sikkim and Bhutanto the Britishbetween1835 and 1865 andwhich Ghising now claimed, without any authentic recorded evidence, as the territorial possession of Nepal from undefined historical times. Accordingto him, the ethnic problemsof the Nepalis in Darjeeling would be solved only if a separate State of Gorkhalandcould be establishedtotally outsideWestBengal.On August16, 1986, Ghising stated that the GNLF did not "haveany economic grievancesother than those which arecommon everywherein the country.Indeed,we are better off than many of the districtsin West Bengal." in Thoughhe did not includeanyeconomicprogramme the GNLF

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agitation for Gorkhaland,Ghising, in the course of his provocate publicspeechesin the hills,gaveabsurdpromiseson severaleconomic issues of the district and always blamed, without any reliable data whatsoever, the Left Front Government of West Bengal for the economic backwardnessof Darjeeling.These provocativespeeches, however, were effectively used to form a populist base for GNLF among a large section of the gullibleNapalis belongingto the lower middleclass and the poorerstrataof the hill population.The Nepali ethnic symbols for violent retaliation,like the blood-stainedKukris, were skillfullyutilised by Ghisingfor mobilisingthe volatile Nepali youth in the various GNLF programmes, including militant processions and strikes. All these programmes,however,created a deepcleavagebetweenthe commonpeopleof the hills and the plains, for which, as mentionedearlier, seedswere sown by the Hillmen's the Associationduringthe first three decadesof the presentcentury. After indulgingfor two years (1986-88) in a violent separatist movementfor Gorkhaland, whichcaused283 deathsand 615 serious injuries and which destroyed 852 private houses/cottages, 502 busesand Government and offices/buildings/culverts 49 Government and his followers had to climb down and agree to vehicles, Ghising the formation of an elected DarjeelingGorkha Hill Council within West Bengal.The formationof this autonomousDistrictCouncilfor the hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, which was an innovative experimentfor the whole country,was suggestedby the Left Front Governmentof WestBengalin August1988 and it was supportedby the Governmentof India. As during the last ten years (1988-1998) the performanceof SubhasGhisingand his GNLFin the autonomousDarjeelingGorkha Hill Council has turned out to be unsatisfactoryand as the basic economic problems of Darjeeling are yet to be solved with a in the comprehensive approach, demandfor ethnicexclusiveness terms of a separateprovince has recentlysurfacedagain. Once again, the public statementsof the leaderswho have been at the helm of affairs of the CentralGovernmentat Delhi, encouragingthe possibility of the creationof Uttarakhand be carvedout of the presentprovince to of Uttar Pradesh,has promptedthe political leadersof Darjeelingto resume their demand for Gorkhaland.It is noteworthy that these local spokesmen presently belong not only to GNLF or Prantiya Parishadbut also to a section of erstwhileCPI(M)leadershiphailing from the hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling district. The Central Committee and the West Bengal State Committee as well as the

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Darjeeling District committee of the CPI(M), however, have not supported this fresh demand for Gorkhaland. The Left Front Committee and the State Government of West Bengal have also opposed this recentclamourfor a separateprovinceof Gorkhaland in Darjeeling. We would like to conclude by delineatingcertain points which tend to emergefrom the above explication of a turbulenthistorical process and which may appear to be relevant in the context of a searchfor an enduringsolution of the long-standingethnicproblems of Darjeeling.In the first place, the violent movementof GNLF has the acutelydisturbed threemajoraspectsof the economyof Darjeeling - tea, timber,and tourism. The situation in 72 tea gardensin the hill sub-divisionsbecame ominous, which accountedfor 50,000 regularworkers and 30,000 casualworkersandwhichsupported populationof around3,00,000. a These tea gardens, now owned by the Indians, were making a of handsomecontribution the foreignexchangeearnings the country to from its yield valuedat aroundRs. 32 croresper year.The estimates madeby the Darjeeling Planters' Tea Associationshowed,for example that nine days of work stoppage by GNLF had cost the tea gardens Rs. 5 croresin productionloss. That apart,one million kilogramsof tea production was adverselyaffected, while the workers had lost wages amountingto Rs. 1 crore. Severaltea gardensdeclaredlockout becauseof the GNLFmovement.The supplyof variousessential materialsto tea industryhad sufferedfromthe frequent'bandhs'and deniedfood supply roadblocksorganisedby GNLFwho deliberately to tea gardenworkersbecausetheywereunwillingto acceptthe GNLF directives.As regardstimberindustry,the total amountof roundlog extracted in Darjeelingand Kalimpongamounted to 41,629 cubic metresin 1985-86 and it declinedto 16,600 cubic metresin 1986-87 following the GNLFmovement.As the annualearningsof the district from timberindustryamountedto Rs. 7 croresand as a largenumber is of hillmenusedto dependon this industry, Darjeeling yet to recover from the setbackin this regard.So far as tourismwas concerned,the total number of tourists who visited Darjeelingduring 1985 was 1,32,000. When the GNLF movement began in 1986, the correspondingfigurecame down to 49,000 by the end of that year. In normal times, the hill stations of Darjeelingused to earn Rs. 25 crores annuallyfrom the visits of the tourists from the plains. of of In the past,thereweresharparticulations differences opinion on the ethnic problems of Darjeeling and various democratic

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movements also took place on the urgent economic demands on several occasions during the long period from 1919 to 1985. But, beforethe onsetof the GNLFmovementin 1986, the earlieragitations had neveraffectedthe economic base of the districtand the hill subarmedconfrontation, divisionshad hardlyexperienced protracted any so much so that 'curfew'was never imposedin the hills in pre-1985 period. Secondly, the fraternal relationship which has historically developed between the educated Nepali middle class and the intelligentsiaof West Bengal on the issues of Nepali language and with the possibility movements further shouldbe strengthened literary of rejuvenationof the All-IndiaNepali Bhasa Samiti. The cultural aspects of the Nepali ethnic identity should be reassertedwhich suffereda setbackduringthe GNLF movementfor Gorkhaland. Thirdly,the solidaritybetweenthe Nepali workersand the toiling of massesbelongingto non-Nepalicommunities the Teraiplainswhich has been nourished in the tea gardens of Darjeeling through the traditionof heroictrade union movementsshould not be allowed to disintegrateby any kind of separatistmovementin future.It should be realised that the working class solidarity does not hinder the blossoming of ethnic identity provided such ethnic thrust is not directedagainstthe democraticmovementsof the toiling masses. of an solutionof the ethnicproblems Darjeeling Fourthly, enduring should take into account the symbiotic relationship which has plainsandthe Darjeeling developedoverthe yearsbetweenthe Siliguri hills. This intimate relationship is unfolded through the timber industry, tourism tea auction centre and road-rail linkages. The economies of the plains and the hills are closely integratedalso in termsof the provisionssuppliedthroughSiligurito the hills. In 1985, 24,000 tons of rice,25,000 tons of wheat,4,500 tons of sugar,11,000 kilolitresof keroseneand 15,000 tons of soft and hardcoke reached the hills by way of Siliguri,which met some of the basic requirements of the hill population. of decentralisation power,which the Fifthly, processof democratic has started with the functioning of the elected and autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, should be nourished further to includeall relevantaspectsof Nepali ethnicaspirations.This process enrichedif not only the urbanmiddle can be more comprehensively class of the towns of Darjeeling,Kurseongand Kalimpongbut also the plantationworkersand the poor peasantsof the hills are allowed to be actively involved in the grass-rootdecentralisationof power.

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This will be one of the surestguaranteesof the ethnic recognitionof the Nepalis in Darjeeling. Finally,in view of the bitterexperiencessufferedby the common people in Punjaband Kashmirand elsewhereover the issue of ethnic problemsduringthe last ten years,the possibilityof the destabilising moves on the part of the imperialistagenciesof the West or of their henchmen shouldbe investigated carefullyin the contextof Darjeeling also. The problem of ethnic identity of the Nepalis of Darjeelingis basically an internal affair of India which is related to the general problemof the unevendevelopmentof differentnationalitiesin our the country.The Westernimperialist regimes,particularly U.S.A.,can only aggravate the problem of nationalities in the Third World countriesin tune with theirdrivefor global domination.The positive alternative is to approach the same problem on the premises of nationalintegrationbasedon the twin processesof class struggleand democraticdecentralisation power. of

REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. Kumar Pradhan: The Gorkha Conquest of Nepal, OUP, 1991. Barun De and Pranab R. Roy: "Notes for the history of Darjeeling", presented to the Indian History Congress, Waltair Session, 1979. Amiya K. Samanta: Gorkhaland - A study in ethnic separation, New Delhi, 1996.

4. 5.
6. 7.

GorkhalandAgitation:An InformationDocument, Govt. of West Bengal,

September, 1986.

GorkhalandAgitation: InformationDocument-II, Govt. of West Bengal,

January, 1987. H.H. Risley: The Gazetteer of Sikkim, 1894. L.S.S. O'Mally: The Gazetteer of Darjeeling, 1907.

8.
9.

W.W. Hunter: A Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol.X, London, 1876. September, 1986.

Manas Dasgupta:EconomicDevelopmentof DarjeelingHill Areas, 1989. Plot in the East, B.T.Ranadive:Gorkhaland Agitation:A Partof Imperialist

10.