Articles by Gorky Chakraborty

While the demand for self-rule is not unknown in the Darjeeling hills, the recent triggers for the movement demanding the creation of Gorkhaland can be traced from the time the Trinamool Congress won the civic body election in the hill areas and imposed the compulsory adoption of Bengali language in schools. This prompts one to look critically at the imagined geography of a place, as envisioned by the government, as well as by those protesting for the creation of a new state, to understand whether and how a regional movement threatens the concept of nationalism.

The mid-channel bars on the Brahmaputra, the chars, were settled before 1947 by migrants from East Bengal. Economic conditions on these tracts are bad and the chars are also subject to fl ooding, forcing the residents to migrate to the plains. But when these citizens migrate thus, they are viewed suspiciously due to the "indigenous-foreigner-minority" syndrome and are seen as Bangladeshis.