Let me give you some core issues that the movement has put - TopicsExpress



          

Let me give you some core issues that the movement has put forward: 1) Around 1780, the Gorkhas invade Sikkim and capture most part of it which includes Darjeeling with Siliguri. They administer it for 35 years when finally after the British-Nepal war, Nepal cecedes its territory to the British in the treaty of Segoulee in 1816. The ceded territory includes Darjeeling, Siliguri, the entire terai, Simla, Nainital, Garwhal hills, Kumaon upto the Sutlej., i.e., the entire region from Teesta to Sutlej. Again, Darjeeling was handed over by the British to Sikkim but was later taken back by the former for political reasons in 1835.The CPIM intellectuals and anti Gorkhaland intelligentsia talk only about 1835 but not 1780. I am sure that history does not begin only from 1835. What was prior to that?? 2) Lepchas were nomadic tribes and were engaged in zoom (shifting ) cultivation. They used to hang around the hills from one region to another. Sometimes they were in Nepal and sometimes in Sikkim. That the Lepchas are the original inhabitants (they of course are, along with other tribes of this region) of this place is based on the account of one Capt. Lloyd, who wrote in his account that there were some 100 Lepcha huts in Darjeeling at the time. It is only that when he visited Darjeeling, those Lepchas just happened to be there. Had he ventured around, he would have surely met some other tribes of the region. It could have been any other tribe; Limbus, Magars, Rais etc who ran around these regions as it was their land. All these tribes belong to the Gorkha community. One thing should be kept in mind that Lloyd was not a trained historian but only a traveler. These 100 Lepcha huts have now become a buzz word of the CPIM intellectuals to prove that the Gorkhas are foreigners here. They do not want to discuss other historical and anthropological contentions, which go in favor of the Gorkhas. 3) When the British started tea cultivation in 1865 and the narrow gauge railway line in Darjeeling, a lot of people came here and started residing permanently. One should keep in mind that – a) these people did not have the modern concept of international borders, b) they understood that the land was under the possession of their king and when they came to work under British enterprise as laborers ,they thought they were actually following the orders of the Gorkha King and, c) they always understood that they were in their own land. 4) When these events were happening, India, as we know today, was still not formed and all these people were British subjects, be it a Gorkha or a Bengali. 5) But after 1947, India entered into an infamous treaty with Nepal in 1950- The Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The Article 7 of this Treaty reads: “The Government of India and Nepal agree to grant on a reciprocal basis to the national of one country in the territory of another the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of properties, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of similar nature”. This treaty ambiguates the citizenship of the Indian Gorkhas, and it led to the loss of their Indian Identity. It makes a Gorkha’s Indian citizenship a reciprocal one. The present Gorkhaland movement is a search and a fight for this lost IDENTITY. Only a separate STATE can give them this IDENTITY and nothing less.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 03:46:40 +0000

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