DARJEELING: WHY THE DEMAND GORKHALAND STATE, WHEN THERE IS NO EXISTENCE OF GORKHA ETHNIC GROUP OR GORKHA RACE IN THE WORLD?
DIPAK DE
EXISTENCE OF GORKHA ETHNIC GROUP OR GORKHA RACE IN THE WORLD?
- By DIPAK DE [HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST; M.PHIL IN HUMAN RIGHTS]
Ethnic group or race should not be fictitious.
Ethnic group or race should be real. Ethnic group or race cannot be
created artificially.
At present world, Ethnic group and/ or race and
linguistic minority is / are matter of International subject and the
subject of human rights.
Government of India ratified the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 27 reads: “In those
States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist,
persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in
community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own
culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their
own language.”
General Assembly of United Nations adopted the
‘Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities’ in its resolution 47/135 of 18
December 1992.
In pursuance of above Declaration and
International Covenant, it is found that there is no GORKHA ETHNIC
GROUP OR GORKHA RACE in India, in Nepal and also in the World. The
claim of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha – ‘.....but the people who came along
with the land were far from integrated into the mainstream. Despite
their rightful claim to the land the Gorkhas in India have always been
referred to as Nepalese or immigrants.” – Website of Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha.
There is no existence of Gorkha race or Gorkha
ethnic group in Nepal, in India and also in the world. IT IS THE
HISTORY that the people who came from Nepal are Nepalese; Nepalese
migrated from Nepal; Nepalese are immigrants in Darjeeling hills,
neighbour regions, Sikkim state, and north-east India. The people who
came are not Gorkhas. It is absolutely false, artificial claim
submitted by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) i.e. a section of
Nepalese.
According to Human Rights philosophy and
jurisprudence, the four meetings which were held between Government of
India, Government of West Bengal and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha are void
ab initio. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL AND GORKHA
JANMUKTI MORCH (registered as political party) may submit their
documents, papers on Gorkha ethich group and/ or Gorkha race, if any,
to the appropriate International Forum for recognition and approval.
Nepalese had not come with the land. Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha's statement "but the people who came along with the
land" is absolutely false and fabricated with ulterior motive.
“Historically, what is known as the district of Darjeeling today was
parts of two kingdoms during pre-British period – the kingdom of
Sikkim and Bhutan. Following wars and treaties signed with these two
kingdoms, this territory came under the control of the British Empire
in India” – read the book Gorkhaland Agitation, The Issues, An
Information Document, published by Government of India, 1986.
“…..the East India Company was engaged in
unavailing remonstrances against the Nepalese aggressions throughout
the whole length of their northern frontier, and war finally broke out
in 1814. At its close, the tract which the Nepalese had wrested from
the Raja of Sikkim was ceded to the East India Company; the Raja, who
had been driven out of his dominions, was reinstated; and in 1817 a
treaty was concluded at Titalaya……The intervention of the British was
thus successful in preventing the Gurkhas from turning the whole
Sikkim and the hills west and south of the Tista into an outlying
province of Nepal” - read the book Bengal District Gazetters,
Darjeeling, L.S.S.O.’Malley, 1907, reprinted in 2001.
POINT: NEPALESE, GURKHAS* [*means soldiers of Nepal; British called
the ‘Nepalese army’ as Gurkhas; Country Nepal, Army of Nepal –
Nepalese army, People of Nepal - Nepalese].
Raja of Sikkim executed a DEED OF
GRANT on 1st.February 1835 and handed over the hill of Darjeeling (all
the land south of the Great Runjeet river, east of the Balasur, Kahail
and Little Runjeet rivers, and west of the Rungno and Mahanuddi
rivers) to the Governor-General of British India. This was
unconditional cession of what was then a worthless uninhabited
mountain.
“….A military force of sufficient
strength was accordingly dispatched into Bhutan in the cold weather of
1864…..Their fortresses were captured with the greatest ease, and the
whole of the Duars was completely occupied by the middle of January
1865. In November 1865 the treaty extorted from Sir Ashley Eden was
given up, and a fresh treaty was executed under which the Bhutan
Duars, with the passes leading into the hills, were ceded to the
British in return for an annual subsidy. The whole of the Bhotia
possessions in the plains thus became British, and a slip of British
hill territory lying on the eastern bank of the Tista was interposed
between Bhutan and Sikkim. In 1866 this tract, which now forms the
Kalimpong police station circle, was added to the district of
Darjeeling. This was the last addition to the district, which thus
acquired its present dimensions”- read the book Bengal District
Gazetters, Darjeeling, L.S.S.O.’Malley, 1907, reprinted in 2001.
“….The country was still practically
uninhabited, and one of the most important problems of administration
was to attract native settlers…….the population rose from not more
than 100 souls in 1839 to about 10,000 in 1849, chiefly by immigration
from neighbouring States of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, in all of which
slavery was prevalent………from the appointment of Dr. Campbell as
Superintendent dates the first immigration of Nepalese from the west
and of plainsmen from the south who flocked in to exploit the land
under even-handed justice administered by Campbell……Native
cultivation……..wasteful system of cultivation practiced by the Lepchas
has been given up, and the use of the plough, which they have learnt
from the immigrant Nepalese…..But the great bulk of the immigrants
come from Nepal, chiefly as labourers in the tea gardens; and in the
hills the population is mainly Nepalese……The dominant race in
Darjeeling is the Nepalese, which with a strength of 134,000 accounts
for more than half the population……..The Lepchas are the aboriginal
inhabitants of the country….” - read the book Bengal District
Gazetters, Darjeeling, L.S.S.O.’Malley, 1907, reprinted in 2001.
“The original inhabitants of Sikkim were a
mild mannered, gentle tribe, popularly known as Lepchas…………The waves
of Nepalese immigration into Sikkim became perceptible from early as
the last century……….The flow came mainly from the Darjeeling district
of India to the south of Sikkim and from the eastern regions of Nepal
contiguous to Sikkim’s western frontier. Darjeeling originally part of
Sikkim, had been ceded to the British in 1835 for the establishing a
sanatorium, since when it had become a refuge for Nepal’s surplus
populations………allowing unrestricted entry of Nepalese into the
country…..and the Nepalese influx was apprehended as an intrusion that
might endanger and disrupt the established order.” – from the book
SIKKIM A HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY, by Nari Rustomji, 1987.
“……However, the large-scale migration
of the Nepalese from Darjeeling and from eastern Nepal has been
connived at by the British since last century. The who accounted for
over one-fourth of the population of Sikkim at the end of the 19th
century, has reached to two-thirds of Sikkim’s present population,
making the original Bhutia- Lepcha of Sikkim a minority in their own
country. The overwhelming number of Nepalese migrants to Darjeeling
and Jalpaiguri of West Bengal constitute those who migrated from
eastern Nepal for employment in tea gardens.” – from INDO-NEPAL
MIGRATTION: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS, Contributions to Nepalese Studies,
Tribhuvan University, by Vidya Bir Singh Kanskar, vol.II, No.2, April
1984.
From the above mentioned records it is proved
that Nepalese migrated from Nepal and entered in Darjeeling, Sikkim,
Jalpaiguri. Nepalese are immigrants. Knowing the history, Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha (GJM) made false and fabricated statement.
British called the soldier of Nepal as
Gurkha. They also named their new soldier as ‘Gurkha’, and the
regiment ‘Gurkha regiment’. British raised the first Gurkha regiment
in the year 1815 and recruited the Nepalese mainly from Gurung, Magar,
Rai ethnic groups of Nepal. “During World War I……..…The magnitude o
the movement of the Gurkhas for recruitment in the Indian and Nepalese
armies (Nepal also assisted the British by sending its own army) was
so great that able-bodied males from the villages of the martial races
(magars, gurungs) were difficult to get during the war………..The
involvement of the Gurkhas in World War II…….during this period it was
difficult to get able-bodied men not only from the lands of the Gurung
and Magar, but also from the lands of the Rai and Limbu.” - from INDO-
NEPAL MIGRATTION: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS, Contributions to Nepalese
Studies, Tribhuvan University, by Vidya Bir Singh Kanskar, vol.II, No.
2, April 1984.
According to Census 2001 of Nepal there are
about 103 ethnic groups and castes in Nepal and there is no existence
of Gorkha ethnic group or Gorkha race in Nepal. So the existence of
Gorkha ethnic group or Gorkha race in India does not arise at all.
After the Gorkhali army of Gorkha kingdom
finally captured Kathmandu in circa 1768 A.D. (then known as Nepal),
the Gorkhali forces came to be known as Nepalese army and the Gorkha
kingdom merged with the country Nepal. People of Gorkha kingdom was
known was Gorkhali, language name Gorkhali and Army name ‘Army of
Gorkha’ or ‘Gorkhali Army’.
After the Independence of India in 1947,
Government of India changed the name ‘Gurkha regiment’ to ‘Gorkha
regiment’ and six regiments out of ten regiments became the part of
India and remaining four regiments retained by United Kingdom.
Actually the changing of name occurred in February 1949 in India. So
the word or term GORKHA coined or in use since the year 1949 and the
word or term “ GORKHA” denotes Gorkha soldier.
Shri Damber Singh Gurung said in Constituent
Assembly Debates on Thursday, the 19th December 1946 – “…It is on
behalf of these valiant Gurkhas that I, as the President of the All
India Gurkha League,………..” – from PROCEEDINGS, VOLUME I.
POINTS: He mentioned ‘Gurkhas’ and ‘Gurkha League’.
The demand of Gorkhaland state is the
violation of human rights.
SO, WHY THE DEMAND GORKHALAND STATE, WHEN
THERE IS NO EXISTENCE OF GORKHA ETHNIC GROUP OR GORKHA RACE IN INDIA,
IN NEPAL AND IN THE WORLD?
Date: 05/01/2010. Dipak De
[Human Rights Activist;
M.Phil in Human Rights; Member of Amnesty International; United
Nations on line volunteer on Human Rights; in touch with: Asian Human
Rights Commission, Hongkong]