Gorkhaland movement

Gorkhaland supporters demonstrating in Mirik, Darjeeling.

On 30 July 2013, the Congress Working Committee unanimously passed a resolution to recommend the formation of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh to the INC-led central government.[13] This resulted in flaring up of demands throughout India, prominent among them were the demands for statehood for Gorkhaland in West Bengal and Bodoland in Assam.

Following a 3 days bandh,[14] GJM announced an indefinite bandh from 3 August.[15] Largely peaceful, political development took place in the background. With the West Bengal government armed with Calcutta high court order declaring the bandh as illegal, the government toughened its stand by sending a total of 10 companies of paramilitary force to quell any violent protest and arresting prominent GJM leaders and workers.[16] In response GJM announced a unique form of protest 'Janta Bandh', in which with no picketing or the use of force, the people in the hills were asked to voluntarily stay inside on 13 and 14 August.[17] This proved to be a major success and an embarrassment for the government.

After a marathon 'all party meeting' convened by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on 16 August at Darjeeling, the pro Gorkhaland parties informally formed 'Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee'.[18]

Between June and September 2017, there was another agitation in Darjeeling.[19] Protests first started after the West Bengal government announced on 16 May that Bengali language should be a compulsory subject in all schools across the state. This was interpreted as an imposition of an alien culture by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) administered area where the majority of the people speak Nepali.[20] Initially, the protests were peaceful. They were stepped up around 5–8 June when the Chief Minister was visiting the regions. After initially ignoring the situation, the Government softened its tone when the protests and rallies intensified. After a cabinet meeting at Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling on 8 June, the Government clarified that Bengali will be an optional subject in the hills. But the GJM leadership decided to not take this on face value, and intensified the protests further. The protesters then revived the old demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.[20] On 9 June, the Government called in the para-military to control the situation.[21][22][23][24][25]

There were a few clashes between the police and the agitators initially. Strikes were called on a few occasions. The situation worsened on 15 June, when the police raided a GJM office and seized spade, sickle, bow, arrow, hoe, and shovel. This was followed by violent clashes between the police and the agitators. And following this, the GJM called an indefinite strike and shut down in the region.[20]

There were widespread instances of violence including riots, arson, torching of vehicles, government properties and houses. In one of these protests, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was torched by the protesters.[26] Mass rallies were taken out regularly by the supporters of the Gorkhaland agitation. There have been multiple injuries of both the Gorkhaland supporters and security personnel. A total of 11 people have died in the protests till date.[27] The internet services of the region were also suspended by the government for the duration of the shutdown.[28] There were complaints of the violation of human right in the region, and an APDR (Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights) team was sent to the region to investigate the issue.[29]

On 9 July, the protests reach New Delhi. Supporters staged a march from Raj Ghat to Jantar Mantar.[26] This was followed by the GJM rejecting the State Government’s offer of talks. On 29 August, the state Government called a meeting with the hill parties. But the meeting was fruitless and they could not arrive at a conclusion. This was followed by another round of talks where there was a consensus to end the shutdown. The supporters met the Home Minister on 19 September. This was followed by the hills slowly returning to normalcy. On 26 September, internet services were restored in the region. Then on 27 September, GJM headed by new chairperson Binay Tamang finally called off the strike after 104 days.[26]

Even after the strike was called off, there were a few stray incidents of violence and protests in the region.[27] But the region as a whole was much calmer than before. And so on 27 October, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to withdraw 7 of the 15 central armed forces deployed in the region.[30]

Bimal Gurung has been in hiding since then for fear of being arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.[31][32][33]

• Sikkim Janashakti Party (SJP) {merged with Indian National Congress in 1999}