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Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood' by Romit Bagchi HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies Volume 33 Number 1 Article 27 March 2014 Review of 'Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood' by Romit Bagchi Roshan P. Rai Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya Recommended Citation Rai, Roshan P.. 2014. Review of 'Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood' by Romit Bagchi. HIMALAYA 33(1). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol33/iss1/27 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 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 Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood grasp of the movement. But the major press home his point that the demand focus is on the post-2007 period of the for autonomy is not justified, rather Romit Bagchi. New Delhi; Thousand movement as a means to discuss the than expand his research to question Oaks, California: Sage Publications ‘Crisis of Statehood’, which extremely the existing politically constructed India, 2012. Pp. 447. INR 895 limits the narrative depth of the history. book. (hardback). ISBN 978-81-321-0726-2. Political views vis-à-vis Gorkhaland At the outset, the author lays out are traced from the Communist Reviewed by Roshan P. Rai his opinions that the demand has Party of India’s demand in 1942 for more to it than just statehood, Gorkhasthan, to the demand for Romit Bagchi introduces his book “with more sinister implications” separation from Bengal by the All as “Gorkhaland – A Psychological (p. 3). He implies links with the idea India Gorkha League in 1943 and the Study,” a statehood demand of of “Greater Nepal” (p. 3). There is present day signing of the GTA. The Gorkhaland from the Indian state an in-depth analysis of the ‘Nepal’ views of national parties including of West Bengal. The demand is of a factor that questions the legitimacy the Congress, who are opposed to regionally marginalized mountain of “a demand put up by a group small states, and the Bharatiya Janata community that is socio-ecologically of immigrants” (p. 13) who have a Party, who support smaller states, completely different from the rest “split loyalty”(p. 17) between India are presented within their historical of Bengal and whose identity is and Nepal. Heavily loaded words contexts. He discusses the state not acknowledged at the national like “settlers” and “migrants” are ruling parties of the Communist Party level. He presents the psyche of two used freely without looking at the of India (Marxist) and Trinamool inflexible actors: the people who region from the perspective of Congress as varying in their approach demand and will settle for nothing a transboundary landscape with but with a universal stand that Bengal less than Gorkhaland, on the one historical connectivity, making the cannot be divided. hand, and, on the other hand, the commentary extremely tilted. people who are unable to envision The Gorkha National Liberation a divided Bengal and so refuse this The author quotes anti-Gorhkaland Front, a Darjeeling based political demand. He points out a belief among groups with theories of population party that spearheaded the some Bengalis that “Gorkha settlers increase through recent migration movement under Subash Ghishing are incapable of self-rule …supposed that question the citizenship of the in the 1980s that resulted in the to be lacking in political acumen and Darjeeling community. He places too formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha administrative deftness in handling much stress on conspiracy theories Hill Council in 1988, is mentioned a serious business like ruling a state” rather than looking at population in the book. Ghishing’s autocratic (p. xvi). This is as far as the promising disaggregates, internal migrations demeanor and obsession with the psychological study goes. and geographical concentrations of inclusion of Darjeeling under the 6th migrants. He fails to scratch beyond Schedule of the Indian Constitution Bagchi narrates the chronological the surface of the argument of recent led to the rise of the Gorkha Jan history of the movement from migration. Mukti Morcha under Bimal Gurung, the first demand for a separate who renewed the movement after administrative setup by the Hill Bagchi summarizes the complicated 2007. The author enumerates the people of Darjeeling in 1907 to the documented history of Darjeeling various actors and their relationships, agreement between the Centre, under the various rulers of Sikkim, the strategies adopted and critical State and the Gorkha Jan Mukti Nepal, Bhutan, East India Company, landmarks of the movement till the Morcha, a Darjeeling-based political British Empire and subsequently interim resolution of the demand for party, for the Gorkhaland Territorial as a district in West Bengal. He Gorkhaland with the devolution of Administration (GTA) in 2011. This interprets a limited selection of powers to the GTA in 2011. enables the reader to get a quick legalistic historical documents to HIMALAYA Volume 33, Numbers 1 & 2 | 127 Bagchi concludes with reflections demands made by a few middle class At Home in the World: Globalization of “Black Darjeeling” (p. 289), the politicians. Conclusions like this deny and the Peace Corps in Nepal theme of a student film festival, as an the struggle for existence of an entire introspection of the darker aspects of community in the Darjeeling Hills. James F. Fisher. Bangkok: Orchid Darjeeling by the younger generation. The book essentially is a narrative Press, 2013. Pp. 212. $26.00 It is also a commentary on inter-party of an anti-Gorkhaland author who (paperback). ISBN 978-9745241572. violent clashes, statehood demands makes no attempt to critically analyse preceding development, and the the movement and draw inferences Reviewed by Jonathan Zimmerman leaders’ insensitivity to the needs of from the universal phenomenon of common people. These reflections the struggle of marginal communities James Fisher and I have a lot in are supposedly representative of a for identity and autonomy. common. We both served in the large community but in actuality Peace Corps in Nepal many moons Bagchi in his epilogue views “the are extrapolations of a very small ago, and we have both returned Telangana trajectory moving fast, number of people. there in the intervening years. We’re things seem all the more uncertain both academicians, and we’ve each The book is not an attempt to for the hills” (p. 377), which is written a book based in part on our narrate a movement but a section of prophetic as the formation of own Nepal experiences. And we both a movement for statehood, from a Telengana has been endorsed by see the Peace Corps as an emblem person who does not believe in the the Centre and the demand for as well as an engine of a key shift in demand at its core. Bagchi’s account Gorkhaland has been renewed. American sensibilities. Discarding the is slanted rather than an attempt to The Chief Executive of the GTA has smug combination of ignorance and critically understand this complex resigned and an indefinite strike arrogance that characterized so much historical demand. He uses narrow since the 3rd of August 2013 has of the mid-century United States, definitions of national identity, created possibilities for a more in- Peace Corps volunteers embodied a patriotism, state, political boundaries, depth and balanced commentary. freshly critical, open-minded, and and ethnicity with no attempt to view Roshan P. Rai is a development worker culturally nuanced view of our nation it from a larger historical landscape and our world. and recently constructed phenomena. with a Darjeeling based NGO, DLR Prerna, Further, Bagchi does not debate the working with marginal communities on But Fisher’s view of this change is complexities of identity, migration, issues of environmental sustainability almost entirely positive, while I gave and marginalization, which for me and social equity since 1996 in the it a more mixed review. Drawing are essential to analyse and deepen Darjeeling Himalaya. upon a fascinating set of interviews the discourse on such demands. with his fellow volunteers—and on his own training as an anthropologist— The discourse is oversimplified and Fisher paints a rich ethnography of the tone is condescending, projecting the first Peace Corps group in Nepal, Darjeeling as a quintessential place where he and 69 others arrived in in a time warp filled with simple 1962. His sources provide eloquent people where visitors can come to testimonies to the many ways that rest occasionally in the “pristine their years in Nepal gave them a grandeur in Nature and the simple more “globalized” perspective. My people who grew up in her lap, own sources—including diaries, largely untrammeled by the demands letters, and Peace Corps evaluation of an artificial civilization” (p. 311). reports—confirmed that trend, but This ‘pristine grandeur’ is being added a dose of skepticism about its spoilt for the author due to the meaning and implications. The more 128 | HIMALAYA Fall 2013.
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