The Gorkhaland Movement: A Persistent Demand for Statehood

Who and where

• The movement wants a separate state out of West Bengal’s Darjeeling hills.
• The area covers Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
• It rests on the Nepali-speaking Gorkha community’s language and culture.
• The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha led the movement in recent decades.
• There have been long strikes and shutdowns in the hills.

Why the community wants a state

• Nepali-speaking Gorkhas feel culturally different from Bengali-speaking plains.
• They say hill development has been neglected by the state government.
• The hills depend on tea, tourism and forestry, with limited jobs.
• They also want clear recognition of Gorkha identity, apart from people of Nepal.
• Parliament can create a new state under Article 3, after hearing the views of the state legislature.

The bodies, in order

• The 1986–88 agitation under the GNLF turned violent, with many lives lost.
• A tripartite accord on 22 August 1988 created the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
• In 2005, a memorandum promised a Sixth Schedule council for the hills. It did not take shape.
• Bimal Gurung formed the GJM in 2007 and revived the demand.
• In 2010, the ABGL leader Madan Tamang was killed, which raised tension.
• The GTA agreement of 2011 then replaced the Hill Council.
• The Council and the GTA are two separate arrangements, decades apart.
• The GTA is semi-autonomous. It falls short of statehood.
• So the demand for a state continued.
• The GJM revived the demand later. It is a different party from the GNLF.

Federal tension

• It is a classic case of sub-regionalism inside an existing state.
• Identity based on language and culture clashes with borders drawn on other lines.
• Telangana won statehood. Gorkhaland has not.
• Party positions on the issue have shifted over time.
• In 2013, the decision to form Telangana pushed the Gorkhaland demand back into the news.
• In 2017, a hills shutdown lasted about 100 days after a dispute over compulsory Bengali in schools.
• Tea gardens, tourism and daily wages suffered during the shutdowns.
• Smaller states can bring government closer to people. But critics fear a chain of new demands.

Related reading

• The successful case: The 1969 Telangana Movement.
• The framework: Regionalism in India.
• Hill states and funding: Special Category Status.
• A parallel movement: North-East India.

Assembly election, 2026

• BJP candidates won all three hill seats: Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.
• In Kalimpong, the BGPM candidate was the runner-up. See Kalimpong constituency.
• In Kurseong, the BGPM candidate was also the runner-up. See Kurseong constituency.
• The BGPM runs the GTA and is led by Anit Thapa.
• Three Gorkha-identity parties contested: the BGPM, Bimal Gurung’s GJM and a new front.
• Voters also weighed roads and tea-garden wages.