HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for and Himalayan Studies

Volume 39 Number 2 Article 20

March 2020

Review of Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland: Constructing Democracy by Mona Chettri

Aadil Brar

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya

Recommended Citation Brar, Aadil. 2020. Review of Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland: Constructing Democracy by Mona Chettri. HIMALAYA 39(2). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol39/iss2/20

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Review is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Book Reviews

politics of democratic institutions highlights that ethnic revivalism and in the eastern . Chettri an emphasis on the politics of ethnic approaches the ethnocultural distinction is now bringing eastern analysis of this region by exploring Nepal, , and closer the intertwined contemporary in an attempt to rediscover their past. history of both ethnic politics and This book is informed by Chettri’s democratic institutions in Darjeeling, lived experience in the region as one eastern Nepal, and Sikkim. In the who is from the region and of Nepali context of this book, the eastern heritage. This Nepali identity shapes Himalayas strictly include parts of the articulation of the Nepali cultural Limbuwan in eastern Nepal, parts sphere in the eastern Himalayas. of North Bengal, and the political Drawing on ethnographic interviews, geography of modern-day Sikkim, Ethnicity and Democracy in the historical evidence, and secondary even though the eastern Himalayas Eastern Himalayan Borderland: data, the book is rich in insights is an expansive geographical area Constructing Democracy. about contemporary ethnocultural incorporating parts of central Tibet, history, but a deeper dive into her Kham, , eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Mona Chetri. Amsterdam: ethnographic interviews, which were the Dooars, Assam, and Arunachal Amsterdam University Press, 2017. conducted in rural regions of eastern Pradesh. The three regions upon 182 pages. ISBN 9789089648860. Nepal, cities in Sikkim, and in parts which Chettri focuses have, in her of Darjeeling, would have further view, a shared cultural history Reviewed by Aadil Brar enriched the book. influenced by the Nepali linguistic sphere. Yet they exist as disparate In the context of Darjeeling, Chettri For the greater part of the twentieth political units. Chettri argues that highlights that politics and identity century, the academic scholarship these three regions are experiencing are intimately intertwined—from on the eastern Himalayas has been a rejuvenation of ethnic identities— making duara suruwal a mandatory restricted to the ethnographic and hence the politicization of attire by the Janmukti study of different communities or identities. This renewed interest in Morcha (GJM) during Dasain and an investigation into the history ethnicity is not just an interest in Diwali to the assimilation of Lepchas of contemporary borderland claiming a cultural identity but is also and Tibetans into Gorkha identity. regions. Mona Chettri’s Ethnicity and a political one. The GJM imposed the stricture Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan formalizing a cultural dress to draw a Borderland: Constructing Democracy The book sets out to articulate the strong cultural and political boundary is a first-of-its-kind book-length concomitant revival of ethnicity as between the Bengali inhabitants of contribution on ethnicity and an expression of political identity and Darjeeling and non-Bengali residents democracy in the eastern the rise of democratic institutions in (including Nepalis, Tibetans, and Himalayas; most specifically, the eastern Himalayas. Chettri argues Lepchas). In Darjeeling, Chettri it deals with the post-colonial and that the shared cultural geography of argues that the idea of the brave post-imperial periods. the Nepali language in eastern Nepal, Gorkha—a colonial construction— Darjeeling, and Sikkim creates an This slim volume of 182 pages drives the narrative of reclaiming illusion of porous borders within the takes up the ambitious task of a broader Gorkha identity. Chettri rigid political boundaries of regions understanding contemporary identity summarizes the conundrum of and nation states. Chettri further

HIMALAYA Volume 39, Number 2 | 159 The book sets out to articulate the concomitant revival of ethnicity as an expression of political identity and the rise of democratic institutions in the eastern Himalayas. Brar on Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland: Constructing Democracy.

Gorkha identity as the question about to food and other resources difficult. and , the ease of movement of what Gorkha identity is not rather Sikkim’s heavy reliance on state- people has both forged new alliances than what it is. The discussion in the sponsored employment opportunities and promoted antagonism amongst book is timely, as the recent flaring has also contributed to a network Nepalis on both sides of the border. of the Gorkhaland movement in 2017 patron-client relationship. The work Chettri cites Article 7 of the India- revived the debate and violence in opportunities are distributed on Nepal Friendship Treaty as the basis the region. the basis of a quota system, which for this asymmetric relationship. allocates a certain number of jobs for Article 7 gives Nepalis from Nepal Scholarship on Sikkim as a post- ethnic minorities and other groups. right to own property, right to reside, merger political entity within Since most jobs are tied to local to participate in trade and commerce India is still nascent but growing. government’s activities, the ethnic and the freedom to move in India. This book makes a significant groups have become advocates of Indian citizens of Nepali cultural contribution to the movement that their community to secure the special heritage are uncomfortable with this is trying to change that. Sikkim’s status or quota. article, as it dilutes their identity as geopolitical locale and unique history an Indian citizen and makes them prior to merging into India have In a parallel to the events in “a foreigner in their own country” contributed to the contemporary Darjeeling, the Limbus of eastern (p. 52). evolution of its political identity. Nepal have been in a tussle against Chettri investigates the patronage- the Nepalese state because of their Another key contribution of the book based system of ethnic and political resistance to the Gorkha identity is Chettri’s finding that ethnic groups affiliation that has emerged as a and efforts to rediscover their in all three regions argue that they method of improving ones’ social past in order to claim an exclusive have been left behind by the state and mobility. The proliferation of ethnic Limbu identity. Though the border its public distribution system. The interest groups in the last three between Nepal and India is porous, reason for their exclusion from access decades has been supported by an asymmetric relationship exists to developmental resources varies: urban elites seeking to promote the between the two countries. Chettri for Limbus it is their Hinduization at economic and political interests of traces the Kirati origins of Limbus the hands of the state; the Sikkimese their community. The overbearing and their subsequent Hinduization attribute it to their history and influence of ethnic interest groups by Shah rulers. She also revisits affirmative action; and the Gorkhas in Sikkim is evident by browsing the Janajati movement in the 1990s in the Darjeeling region blame their through daily newspapers such as as the basis for the rise of ethnic territorial sovereignty. the Sikkim Express and Summit Times. groups that were trying to rediscover The book’s exclusive focus on Chettri’s book investigates the their Kirati roots. The basis of this “Nepali” as an ethnic category reasons behind the mushrooming of movement was to resist the state- leaves the reader to speculate how ethnic interest groups. Notably, she sponsored discriminatory practices other ethnic groups relate to each identifies as the primary driver access that give precedence to Brahmin other within this eastern Himalayan to the public distribution system elites in Nepal. Chettri draws a geography. Though Chettri discusses and employment opportunities parallel between Sikkim and eastern the Bhutia and Lepcha communities controlled by politics of ethnicity. Nepal, where the state—both in Nepal in relation to Nepalis in Darjeeling, Public distribution system here refers and India—instituted policies that such an analysis for Sikkim and to state-supply of food resources and promote the well being of certain eastern Nepal in sparse. basic essentials to the public. Sikkim’s communities over others. Despite an geography and terrain makes access international border between Nepal

160 | HIMALAYA Fall 2019 Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland is an important contribution to improving our understanding of identity politics and the evolution of democratic institutions across the eastern Himalayas. This book lays the foundation for further academic scholarship on the formation of the public sphere and citizenship within and across the boundaries of nation-states.

Aadil Brar is a Digital Journalist at the BBC and a National Geographic Society Young Explorer. His recent research has focused on civil society institutions, ethnicity, and democracy in the eastern Himalayas. He holds an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

HIMALAYA Volume 39, Number 2 | 161