The Gorkha’s movement for a separate state as ‘Gorkhaland’ on the bases of asserting a secured and concrete identity is not of a recent origin but is a struggle of over a hundred years which was realised with the birth of the Hill Men’s Association (1907) who cried aloud its primary and universalistic slogan, “Nepali, Bhutia, Lapche hami sabai Gorkhali” which in short was abbreviated as ‘Nebula’. Such was the supreme ideology of the three diverse communities which were impregnated with the imprint of secularism aimed at unifying the Nepali society as a whole.
The Gorkha status under the former leadership of Mr. Bimal Gurung had been witnessing concurrent rise in the janajati movement, a movement of the indigenous groups of the hills such as the Kirats, Khas, Bhutias, Lepchas, Sunuwar, Jogis to name a few. Gorkha is an umbrella term dressed in the essence of unity in diversity but the present situation depicts a picture where the diverse communities of Gorkhali are also tilting towards reviving their respective age old and long forgotten cultures with the primordial assertions. Also, the demands for the developmental schemes along the ethnic lines had been made coupled with the reservation policies.
The U.N. interference of 1993 signifying the year as the ‘Year of the Indigenous People’ had immensely influenced in boosting the entire affair of the janajati people in asserting their rights for their respective identities. Henceforth, the notion and the application of a homogeneous and singular ‘Gorkha identity’ in describing the heterogeneous Nepali society appeared to be under question. Revisiting and precisely comprehending the massive and complex history of the Gorkhas and their notion of identity have become crucial since ethnicity and identity have become a social and fluid construction in every historical context of the human political society. It invariably, as such, furnishes the course for the rise of ethnic democracy and cultural mobilization which has been well portrayed through the issue of janajati movement in the hills.
In order to make the above statement more concrete the reference to the hoisting of Kiranti Khambu International Conference on an annual basis serve the best instance for cultural mobilization and the struggle for socio-cultural and political recognitions by demarcating themselves as a distinct ethnic (tribal) group. Apart from such conferences, ethnic communities such as Rai, Dewan, Gurung, Bhujel, Thami, Sunuwar, Jogi, Khas, Magar and Newar have been the ten major group from the hills who have been asserting their rights for the recognition as Scheduled Tribes. On the other hand, the recognised tribal categories are well struggling for the grant of Development Boards on the line of their respective ethnic identities. Struggle for such colossal demands and recognitions had transformed the hills into a contested land with ethnic and indigenous claims.
Hence, perplexities embarked in understanding the identity claims of the Gorkhas and their realisation of their socio-political and economic goals vividly illustrated through janajati movements remain essential for affirming their new identities as the indigenous communities of the historic Darjeeling hills. Various studies have been conducted based on Gorkha and their demand for an autonomous state but more importance has to be laid through relevant and objective research woks highlighting the aspect of cultural revivalism based on primordial loyalties. The importance laid towards the cultural symbols in the form of language, customs, primitive form of religions have become an inevitable source for the creation of a separate and complex interpretation of the historic community as Gorkhas. Moreover, formation of minute yet massive and complex identities has nevertheless been devoid of the constructive and instrumentalist approaches. The hill politics and the identity formation has never been devoid of the embedment for creating, manipulating, prioritizing and subjugating certain identities for the socio-political and economic achievements crucially attached with the state mechanisms of reservation policies and economic benefits.
