By announcing three more development boards for small
communities in the Darjeeling hills, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee has taken the identity politics to new heights.
“When
I come to the hills, there are demands for development boards. People
say they should also be given a chance to develop. We will form three
development boards for Kami, Damai and Sarki,” Ms Banerjee said last
week.
Interestingly, since the mid 1980s, the
Darjeeling hills have witnessed the rise of identity-based politics
centred on demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland, which was always
resisted in the plains of Bengal, mostly inhabited by the Bengalis.
From
the Subhash Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) to
Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the issue of Gorkhaland has
dominated politics of the hills.
Autonomous
bodies like the Darjeeling Hill Council during the GNLF and now the
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration have been functioning in the hills
but the issue of Gorkhaland still holds its sway. Ever since she came
to power in 2011, Ms. Banerjee has been trying to defuse the Gorkha
identity-based politics in the hills by using the same coin. And
reaching out to the Kami, Damai and Sarki communities to offset the
influence of the Gorkhas can be considered a step towards that
direction.(The Hindu)
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