"Gorkhaland", published by Sage India, is an attempt by journalist Romit Bagchi to unravel the various layers of the ongoing crisis in the Darjeeling hills, where the Nepali- speaking community is locked in a political struggle with the state of West Bengal, of which it is a part.
The author endeavours to delve into the deeper recesses of the psyche of the Gorkha community settled in these restive hills and attempts to put the prevailing stereotypes under a subjective scanner.
The writer approaches the century-old tangle from four perspectives: the history of the region; the problem of assimilation of the various ethnic groups; the course of the movement; from Dambar Singh Gurung to Bimal Gurung; and the hurdles in the way of the fulfillment of the statehood dream.
"The association of Nepal comes to the fore in any serious discourse on the restlessness in the hills principally because of two clauses that are enshrined in the controversial 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty and the consequent unimpeded migration from across the Nepal and other borders in the region into the Darjeeling hills and the adjacent areas in the plains," the book says. MORE