The Lede Conflict

Gorkhaland | A Bitter Darjeeling Boils Over

Longings for another new Indian state bubble up after a community leader is murdered in the tea region of West Bengal

01 July 2010
Across Darjeeling, most storefronts are painted with the region’s political demands: a new state of Gorkhaland.
ADAM JADHAV FOR THE CARAVAN
Across Darjeeling, most storefronts are painted with the region’s political demands: a new state of Gorkhaland.
ADAM JADHAV FOR THE CARAVAN

FROM THE RAMAN BORDER CHECKPOINT, once you enter West Bengal from Sikkim,  it’s easy to tell how much spine-rattling road is left before Darjeeling. The closer the jeep gets to the romanticised hill station, the more you’ll see the green and white and yellow paintings on guard rails, embankments, sign posts, shop doors, homes and everything in between.

All the paint requests, demands, cries out for one thing: a new Indian state, Gorkhaland.

The colour scheme belongs to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the ruling political party and latest spearhead of demands of statehood for the Gorkha community of Nepali-speaking Indians mostly in the Darjeeling area.

Keywords: Adam Jadhav Darjeeling raman border checkpoint Gorkhaland GJM youth corps Gorkha National Liberation Front Kumar Gurung Madan Tamang
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