Darjeeling-dooars

THE ADVANCED AND “BIG NATIONAL’S” PERCEPTION AND PRACTICE OF MARXISM OVER THE NATIONAL MINORITY
The newly-independent nation can find itself administered by an indigenous middle class that uses its priviledged education and position cheerfully to replicate the colonial administration of the nation for its own profit.
J. McLeod, Postcolonialism.
The Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists was formed in 1996 by breaking the CPM, a ruling party of West Bengal on the grounds of ideological and political differences. It was the second break up of the party in its thirty-two years of existence. The first break in the house of CPM had taken place in 1967 and both the splits in the solid organisational-political foundation were occurred in the district of Darjeeling. The first split had taken place on account of a movement at Naxalbari, Darjeeling that led to the formation of Naxalite group of Communist popularly known as CPI [M-L]. As "the peasant struggle in Naxalbari had developed since the early 1950s, but attained a new level of organisation and militancy when it was programmatically linked with the struggle of tea plantation workers in the neighbouring gardens. The peasant struggle at that time was being led by the Siliguri unit of the Krishak Samiti composed mainly of CPM members. The largest proportion of poor people in the Naxalbari areas consisted of Santhal, Oraon and Rajbangsi sharecroppers tilling the jotdar's land on terms which was perhaps the most oppressive in all of West Bengal. The formation of the United Front government in March, 1967 was followed by widespread rumours among most of the landowning classes in the area that the government would dispossess them and grant ownership rights to share-croppers. As a result, there was large-scale eviction of share-croppers" (Chatterjee}) The eviction led to court case and non compliance of the court order by the owners of the land took the form of movement for land rights of the peasants in Naxalbari.The Darjeeling District Committee Member of CPM, Charu Majumdar, who led the Naxalbari movement became the single most influential leader of the CPI [M-L]. When the momentum was gained by the peasant struggle, he emphasised that the chief feature of the Naxalbari struggle was that the peasant fought neither for land nor crops but political power. And the political power, the CPI [M-L] had attempted to wrest with arms. He (Charu Majumdar) was not hesitant of telling that the President of China was the President of his party.

But the formation of CPRM in Darjeeling, the second split of CPM was not for political power as wanted and pursued by Charu Majumdar and his men. The protracted ideological struggle within CPM ultimately led to the formation of CPRM in 1996, on the issue of the right of nationalities for having their own STATE within India as per the provision of the Indian Constitution. The leaders of the Communist Party of Bengal had supported a demand of the independent Gorkhasthan for the Gorkhas of Darjeeling at the time Independence. But the same leaders showcaused and expelled R.B. Rai M.P, Lok Sabha, Dawa Lama M.P. Rajya Sabha, D. S. Bomjan, Taramani Rai, Gobind Chhetri and Sawan Rai from the CPM for demanding a separate State within India. When there occurred a possibility of the splitting of CPM and leading to the formation of CPI [M-L] on account of Naxalbari armed Struggle led by Charu Majumdar, the CPM had made several endeavours for assuaging the rebel leader and his supporters. The erstwhile Land and Land Revenue Minister and others were dashed to Siliguri from Kolkata for holding conclave with the leader who was leading a revolt. But at the time of formation of CPRM by revolting against the ideological principle linked to the rights of nationalities for having their own State within India, the same leadership of the CPM from Kolkata made no effort of listening and assuaging the leaders and cadres belonging to national minority group. Thus at the time of first split the CPM took every effort to mollify the rebel but in the second time it remained apathetic and indifferent as because the revolting leaders and cadres did not belonging to their own community as in the earlier case. Hence, it was clear that the party and its leaders from Kolkata seemed concerned for the rebels of the party carrying armed struggle in Naxalbari but the same party and its leaders had no botheration for the rebels who were making the demand of separate state within India in accordance with the Leninist principles. But still they are regarded as true Marxists not communal, and the leaders and cadres, who were differently treated, are the communalists not Marxists as available in the DICTIONARY of the CPM. Hence, in the Marxian political terminology, Communalism is made to be understood as a word whose use is monopolised by the big and advanced but unenlightened ruling sub-nationality of West Bengal.

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MICRO-COMPARTMENTALISM
'It is not a mere accident that the nineteenth century, the century of the invention of modern means of transport was also the century of emerging nationality (A.R.Desai). The "nationality is a historically evolved stable-community of people formed on the basis of a language, territory, economic life and psychological make up in a common culture"[J. Stalin]. Thus, in the evolution of nationality the essential ingredients, the territory, economic life, psychological aspect and cultural affinity are bound together by the thread of common language. But in spite of the language being a major factor for the formation of nationality it could not be the sole agent, nevertheless it is regarded a dominant cause of cohesiveness. The Bengali Language of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India is one and the same, but the Bengalese of West Bengal and Bangladesh though having similarity of language and facial look, they are two distinct and separate entities. As the Hon'ble Delhi High Court had asked the Government of India to submit a report "whether alleged illegal Bangladeshi migrants were operating firms from West Bengal and fake exports to Bangladesh were being used as a cover for siphoning off money through hawala channel." And, in response to the Hon'ble Court's directive the Union Home Ministry had submitted that "a population census to identify Bangladeshi nationals staying illegally in India is not feasible because they have similar ethnicity, language, culture, dressing and food habits as those of Indian nationals belonging to eastern parts of the country" (The Statesman, dated 27th March, 2007, a English daily published from Siliguri, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar). Despite the existence of such inseparable similarity between the two identical people they are distinctively two different nationals in regard to their nationality question. There is no difference in the spoken language of America and England as well as their dressing code, but they are two different nationals. Similarly there is no difference in the Nepali Language used in Nepal and India but the Nepali national of Nepal and Indian Nepali National are two different and separate entities, evolved through a distinct historical, socio-economical process leading to psychological make-up of their own type with common means of communication nurtured for years together. But India, being a country of continental dimension with multi ethnic population as it is recorded that "of the 5653 communities in India, 635 are tribal. Of the later, a little over 200 categories are found in the Northeast" {Verghese}. In the ocean of such varied ethnic groups spreading in an expanse extending from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, the Indian Gorkhas are found as a microscopic minority, except in West Bengal, Uttaranchal and North Eastern India. As a result of the scattered settlement in the midst of several ethnic groups, it is only the language which is found to have played a dominant role in the evolution of Nepali.Nationality in the context of India would be Indian, sub-nationality - Nepali/Gorkhali, Bengali, Punjabi etc. nationality in the context of Nepal would be Nepali. Hence, the language is one of the strongest cementing components for the historically evolved Indian Nepali. And in the process, the emergence of nationalism of nineteenth century had its effect in Darjeeling too. As the advantage of compact settlement within discernible region different castes having their own dialect had "successfully preserved and developed Nepali language in Darjeeling even while facing adverse circumstances. The Nepali Nationality of Darjeeling would not have come into existence if the Nepali language had not been preserved as a means of communication and expression of thought and feeling by the educationally backward and majority of workers" { Dr. Kumar Pradhan}. Hence, the role of Darjeeling region in the evolution of the Indian Nepali and shaping the socio-cultural identity and forwardness in political activities is of paramount importance with wide significance in India for the entire Indian Nepali. Keeping in view the importance and significance Darjeeling was regarded as the nerve centre and also the capital of Indian Gorkhas for social, cultural, educational, literary and political activities. But along with the flow of water from Teesta, Rangeet and Balasan from the hills of Darjeeling to the plains of Bengal, the recognition as nerve centre is on the wane due to the play of various internal and external factors. As the inability of retaining recognition, of the nerve centre by facing the odds and the challenges posed by those factors could be on account of sheer backwardness, docility and carefree mental make-up of the people of Darjeeling. Taking advantage of it, the clever and developed and arrogant ruling majority community has had been taking every chance of using "SAM, DAM, DANDA VHED" for making the people a "victim of their own ignorance".

The incessant stratagem employed by West Bengal for wearing out the endeavour of getting the region separated from the political and administrative clutches of Bengal has several manifestations. As, instead of making a united move for the realisation of political aspiration, the different castes/ communities comprising Nepali Speaking Indian Nationals are moving in centrifugal direction. The play of the centrifugal forces is the resultant affect of the Mondalisation of Indian politics during the Prime-Minister ship of V.P. Singh. As prior to it, the different caste associations of Darjeeling were confined to the sphere of cultural activities except All India Tamang Buddhist Association. As it had obtained, the status of Tribals in 2002, as a result of twenty five years of struggle. But, after the constitution of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, it has gradually followed the sprouting of several organisations bearing the names of caste and community by whom they were formed. Further, many semi-defunct associations went into activation. The formation of organisation/association such as Gedung for Tamang, Kirat for Rai, Lafa for Magar, Newar, Limbu, Sunwar etc. etc. are found to have taken place in Darjeeling. The objectives of making such different and separate organisations/associations by each caste belonging to Nepali sub-nationality which was evolved through historical, social, economical and political process extending a period of more than one and half century, are mentioned for the preservation of the innate cultural peculiarities and also availing of economic benefits by obtaining reservation in the name of caste. As the prevailing scenario in the sphere of employment, the lucrative and prime posts are held by scheduled tribes and castes and more so by the people from outside the district. Thus, it is difficult for the general people to occupy the posts held by scheduled tribes/castes; the general Indian Nepali Nationals seemed to have been prompted for fragmentation/ compartmentalisation into different associations in the name of castes out of one single unified Nepali community solely for getting reservation as enjoyed by scheduled tribes and schedule castes. There is practically no difference in regard to socio-economic conditions and mindsets in between the scheduled tribes/castes and the general Indian Nepali Nationals. But the socio-economic and administrative policy of the Government led to form a socio-political fragmentation amongst the Indian Nepali Nationals. Rai is the largest constituent of Nepali Community and it has few dozen sub-castes that formed the Rai society as a whole. Given the fact that the Mandal Commission Report lists all the Gorkhas as OBC, this fragmentation is similar to the linguistic one the government created during the first States Reorganisation Commission. Which is tantamount to a ‘ghetto culture' the Nazi's had initiated against the Jews. But from among those several sub-castes it is only two/three sub-castes belonging to Rai society were listed as Other Backward Class {OBC} by the Government of West Bengal. Similar types of omissions have been made in respect of granting the status of Other Backward Class to Chhettri and Pradhan too. Further in order to get a Certificate of OBC the recommendation, as a proof of applicant's veracity to the very caste or sub-caste listed as OBC, from his/her caste association formed a precedent. The precedent of the recommendation and its acceptance acted as an indirect encouragement for making association of caste and sub-caste for getting a certificate with the hope of obtaining benefit and other consideration as reserved for Other Backward Classes.

During the course of evolution of the Indian Nepali, the festival of Dasain/Tihar and Nepali Language had become a common identity. But the process of fragmentation or micro-compartmentalism just like binary fission associated with Amoeba, brought about by the formation of different castes associations in Darjeeling, a dispute and controversy for the observance of Dasain/Tihar festival has also been taking place. As the All India Tamang Buddhist Association claiming themselves to be tribals issued a decree to its members for discarding the Dasain/Tihar festival branding it as a festival of Hindus. The All India Tamang Buddhist Association was the solid and unified organisation but the issue of the Dasain/Tihar has fragmented it into two camps. And, the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Anusuchit Jati of scheduled caste was the strongest and solid caste organisation. But it also stands divided into two fragments on the demand of making/ treating them as Scheduled Tribe in place of Scheduled Caste. For the wrecking of division on the issue of the conversion of Scheduled Caste into Tribal, the role of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and its Caretaker Chairman Subash Ghisingh was perceptible. The break away group formed an association comprising Kami, Damai and Sarki belonging to Nepali scheduled castes group, called "KADASA" and it had been to Delhi for demanding Tribal Status for them with the blessing and guidance of Subash Ghisingh. The Chhettri and Bahun had their association like others named as Hitkari Sammelan but it also could not remain aloof when the issue of conversion into tribal was floated by GNLF. The caste associations of Rai and Gurung were endeavoring for years together for obtaining scheduled tribe status. Even before floating the idea of the conversion of Scheduled Caste and the constituents of Hitkari Sammelan into Tribal Status it was perceived that Rai and Gurung would be listed as tribals. As the case files of Rai and Gurung were believed to have been put on the administrative tract for consideration, but, neither Rai, nor Gurung nor others could get Tribal Status in spite of making hue and cry for the same. Finally it seemed that the different castes that were eager for obtaining Tribal Status are not in the know of reasons that debarred them from having the same.

It was accepted fact that the whole of Indian Nepali consisted of Barah Barna {twelve different facial outlooks} and Chattish Jat {thirty six Castes}. And in spite of having conglomeration of such varied abstracts, the Indian Nepali National has had been presenting a solid stance as their national identity. But the trend of forming separate associations by different caste with an aim of realising economic benefit has caused a fear and apprehension in the minds of some intellectuals and conscious people for the national unity of Indian Gorkhas on the following presumption. As India has a population of more than one hundred crore in which it is claimed the presence of mere one crore Gorkhas in India. But as per the Government official record the population of Gorkhas in India; it is not more than twenty Lakhs. And in those twenty lakhs, the concentration of Gorkhas population within a specific territorial limit is found in Darjeeling Hill areas and Dooars. The population of Darjeeling hill areas is eight lakhs as per 2001 census. As the area being the homeland of Nepali population, its percentage in the total population within the region could safely be taken more than ninety percent and it comes a little more than seven lakhs. The percentage of twenty lakhs Nepali people of India in the vast ocean of more than one crore Indian population comes around 0.2 percent only. Thus, the seven lakhs population of Darjeeling in all India contexts becomes a microscopic minority of 0.07 percent. Further the population of West Bengal is more than eight crore and the Nepali speaking population of seven lakhs from Darjeeling would be 0.875 percent in the state of West Bengal. Hence it is seen mathematically that the Nepali Speaking Population in India and in the State of West Bengal is in vulnerable minority. But the vulnerability has been further aggravated in Darjeeling hill due to the process of fragmentation thrust upon them by prevalent socio- economic circumstances. But in spite of the motion set in for fragmentation and also the forces at work, the Indian Nepali of Darjeeling has been kept tied together, for its unity by the only one living element that is their mother tongue, the Nepali Language. Hence the Nepali Language has become not only a rallying point for the Indian Nepali National but also the fulcrum of the socio-political and cultural activities. Hence, it was sloganised as "living nationals' alive language, the Nepali Language". But the Nepali Language having the status of second language and also official language for Darjeeling, as accorded by the West Bengal Language Act, 1961, which was one of the major official languages during the Raj, has not taken a practical shape in its usage in Government and Semi-Government offices. As in the printings of Ration Cards, Nomination papers, different forms and for correspondence as well as noting in files either English or Bangla has been used.
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MERGER OF DARJEELING WITH SIKKIM
The issue of the disengagement of Darjeeling from the politico-administrative web of Bengal for the formation of a separate administrative unit is the oldest political demand in India. But taking into account the non-realisation or achievement of the political demand for a pretty long time, a few people, who could be counted on the finger tips of left hand, from Darjeeling with weakened standing have been advocating the merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim. The protagonists of the merger issue say that the region for which the demand of separation from Bengal has been raised for years together was once the part of Sikkim. It is absolutely true that, historically the region was a part of Sikkim prior to Gorkha invasion on the province and the first British encounter with the Gorkha. And in support of demand for merger with Sikkim, the protagonists extracting a sentence from the document prepared by West Bengal Government in 1986 captioned as "Gorkhaland-Agitation-The-Issue-An Information-Document" has had been using it as a handy tool. As in page number 4, Para 2 of the very document it is written that "historically, which is known as the district of Darjeeling today was parts of two kingdoms during the pre-British period-the kingdom of Sikkim and Bhutan". The same CPM which accused the BJP of ‘saffronising’ history has here ‘coloured' history by conveniently expunging from the history of Darjeeling the contents of Article 3 of the Treaty of Sugaulee, 1815 and as also the information in the District Gazetteer compiled by A.J. Dash. Further the same fact has been found repeated in the fourth para of the same. Thus, the sentence clarifying the historical background of Darjeeling has been used as pinpointed weapon to support the demand for the merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim. Hence, it is seen that the protagonists, instead of taking care of several other related and dominant factors, have been giving a great emphasis for undoing the historical incidence that had occurred more than one hundred and seventy five years back. Thus, under the historical premise they have been making the demand of the merger of the region from where it was truncated by war, design and diplomacy. But the demand having the intricacy in its nature of separation from West Bengal could not be decided by a mere historical exigency. If the merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim turns into a reality on the fact of historical record then the reverse march of history does not end there by attaining the merger. And, after merger it moves further with the truth that the whole land was a country that belonged to the Chogyal Dynasty. Thus, the merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim contains a perilous portent in it. This is because the separation of the region, if considered by giving due credence to the historical fact then it is not only the existence and solidarity of a state but India itself as Sovereign country would be at stake.

Darjeeling district and its contiguous areas were acquired from Sikkim and Bhutan and once Sikkim was the sole master of the region. And the master might have the right to claim for his ceded/lost territory, if it wished so. Hence, Sikkim and its people have the right for making claim of recovery of region which earlier was the part and parcel of their kingdom. But the former Chief Minister Narbahadur Bhandari, who was also one of the prime activists for the merger of Sikkim in India in 1974, was adverse to the merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim. He "[Bhandari] dismissed the story of his seeking Sikkim's merger with Darjeeling as a plant to discredit him. He wondered how a state could merge with a district. With a population of 1.3 m, Darjeeling would submerge Sikkim with only a third that number. {Verghese}. Similarly the present Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Kumar Chamling is also not inclined towards a claiming Darjeeling but he is lending his support for the formation of Gorkhaland, a separate state within India comprising Darjeeling District and its contiguous areas. Further, the print media had carried a report that he had advocated the need of the formation of separate state of Gorkhaland for the people of Darjeeling and its contiguous areas in the meeting of United Progressive Alliance, the ruling coalition of India from 2004, held in Delhi on 21st March, 2007. Thus the former and present Chief Ministers of Sikkim for inexpressible reasons of administrative and political aspect related to ethnic morphology of state seemed adverse to the issue of merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim. And few of the noticeable reasons could be impossibility of unity in thought and approach between the peoples of the two region that was politically, administratively and psychologically kept separated for more than one and half century. Darjeeling has been in the Indian National political main stream since the birth of Nationalistic Consciousness, whereas Sikkim is a new entrant to it. The pace with which Sikkim is moving in the socio-economic transformation would be made difficult by the amalgamation of varied ideas as a result of the merger. And despite having an undeniable and discernible contribution of the majority Nepali speaking people in making of the modern Sikkim they are being regarded as immigrants in Sikkim by the elite, holding the reigns of Administration. The immigrant perception is a deep rooted phobia, because the political and historical writers enjoying close proximity with the successive Chogyal Dynasty have made record of the immigration of the Nepali speaking people.Chogyal Thutob Namgyal and Gyalmo Yeshe Dolma in their ‘The History of Sikkim’ state that, “when we came over (i.e. from Chumbi, Tibet) we had to fight fierce battles with the Limbus and the Magars”. In both Sikkim and Bengal the Gorkha has been 'othered’ and has been the ‘instrument of convenience’ the 'pharmakos'. The history of the Gorkhali people has always been devalued, by the colonisers and a colonialist ideology implanted that history, culture and progress began with the advent of the white and later the brown sahibs. As in India it has become a precedent for applauding the valour of Nepali speaking soldier in the war field for the defence of country and terming them immigrant during the peace period. But after attainment of independence and merger of Sikkim with India, due to the unflinching loyalty on the sovereignty of India and also perseverance in transforming Sikkim from feudalistic to democratic institution have not been able to erase the stigma of immigrant. As it is found on record that the "immigration from Nepal is steadily increasing and is encouraged by all classes as the Nepali ryot is hard working and thrifty as a rule, pays his taxes regularly and at the same time is a law-abiding and intelligent settler" (Sunanda K Dutta-Ray) And further "White recorded in 1906 that in the interest of the state and of the Lepchas themselves, the reverses north of Gangtok should be thrown open to Gorkhas settlers {Ibid}. And thirty years after the encouragement the Chogyal 'had written to Sir Basil Gould, the PO, as long ago as 1942 about the potential danger of immigrants taking over the country" {Ibid}. Subsequently it had become the fear of the erstwhile Chogyal that it was Indian policy to weaken Sikkim's Tibeto-Buddhist ethnic by extending support to the Gorkhas Hindus who might be expected to form alliances with their compatriots in Darjeeling {Ibid}. Thus it could be seen from the facts stated above that the seed of mistrust and disbelief is found to have been sown prior to the merger of Sikkim in India. That Sikkim is no doubt the home land of Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali and regarding socio-political status it is written that "the Lepcha remained as an appendage of the Bhutia with hardly any political or economic leverage. Barring a few elite amongst the Gorkhas, the vast majorities were sharecroppers or confined to petty trade or employment as labourers or workers. Their political status was second class and their power and numbers stood curbed by the enforced and manipulated parity with minorities" {B.S. Das}.

Thus, in spite of having presence of Nepali population in majority they seemed like pawns for the power equation in the chess board of ethnic politics of the State. But despite being used as pawns, "the Gorkhas in Sikkim are neither afflicted by the ‘Gorkha phobia’ nor aware of their potential power. They still seek their identity as Sikkimese and work within its polity" {Ibid}. Hence the potentiality of the majority community has been assimilated in the Tibeto-Buddhist ethnic administrative perspective keeping and maintaining separate and distinct cultural identity. The state emblem and the architectural bearings in the public, private and administrative buildings are found to have been imbibed as unity in diversity by different ethnic groups. The unity and amity has become a hallmark of Sikkim and the same has conferred the coveted status as the most peaceful state in India. Hence it seemed that the government and intelligentsia are not inclined to setting a ripple in 'Tsangmo' of communal harmony in Sikkim by raising a bogey of merger of Darjeeling with it.

But prior to the merger of the kingdom of erstwhile Chogyal into the union of India, the relation between Sikkim and India had soured to some extent. "For years, the Chogyal and Hope Cooke, his American wife, had been building an anti-Indian platform in Sikkim and abroad. With her contacts in USA and elsewhere, she began raising fundamental issues like Sikkim's claim to Darjeeling which had been ceded in 1835 to the British. She even widely circulated a pamphlet on the subject." {B.S.Das}. But instead of getting ceded Darjeeling, the claimer, lost his own kingdom. Thus the claim of Darjeeling for Sikkim seemed a bad portent too. However, the realignment of Darjeeling with Sikkim was an easy proposition and possibility at the time of merging Sikkim with India as its twenty second state in 1975. But keeping Darjeeling with West Bengal it is only Sikkim wherein the Chogyal was ruling had been merged. And many political writers were of the view that Sikkim being a protectorate state of India; it should have merged at the time of the attainment of independence by India. When manoeuvreings for the merger of Sikkim with India was hectic, there was Mr. B.S. Das as the Chief Executive in Sikkim from Government of India and after the completion of the merger, he wrote in 1983 that "if the mistake of 1947 in denying merger to Sikkim with India could be corrected in 1975, why could Darjeeling not be restored back to Sikkim thus fulfilling the aspirations of a homeland for the Gorkhas?" (The Sikkim Saga). But the man who was at the helm of affairs at the crucial hours, when internal and external process for the merger of Sikkim with India was underway, is found indifferent on the issue of unifying Darjeeling also with Sikkim for its final merger in India as twenty second state. Further he was fully aware of the claim of Darjeeling made by the Chogyal and his wife. The parties and leaders who were instrumental for the merger of Sikkim with India too did not take note of Darjeeling for its inclusion. Similarly, politically conscious Darjeeling and intellectuals wherefrom an expression of aspiration for joining Sikkim and thereby becoming a Nepali Speaking State in India was not raised at the time of the merger of Sikkim in the union of states in India. As it was the opportune moment for the people of Darjeeling in its history of Independent India for separation from the political and administrative clutches of West Bengal to become a separate state by uniting with Sikkim. Thus an opportunity for the unification of Sikkim to its pristine geographical glory had been lost in 1975. And the loss of a golden chance could be attributed as socio-political backwardness of the people of the entire region. Hence today it seems that there is no way out except penitence and the penitents to regard the fish that slipped off the clutch as the greatest catch. And knowing well the mindset and the national psychology of the loser of the opportunity, the sympathy from the stature of Mr. Das for a "Homeland for the Gorkhas" seemed nothing more than crocodile tears. It is, however, the "Belated Thought" for the restoration of Darjeeling to Sikkim as Homeland for the Gorkhas from a senior Indian Administrative Service cadre has caused psychedelic effects on some people with impaired credibility as a Concept of Greater Sikkim. But as of today not a single political party from Darjeeling is found to have been making the issue of merger with Sikkim. Almost, all the political parties of region are silent on the issue of merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim, except the Gorkha National Liberation Front {GNLF}, at the height of Gorkhaland Movement in 1986 its President Subash Ghisingh "[he] also added, rejecting the suggestion that Darjeeling hill areas should be merged with Sikkim. If we are to be a part of any other state it is thousand times better to be in West Bengal" {Darjeeling Himalaya in Flames, page no 25 Para 3} Nevertheless, if the issue of greater Sikkim had originated and was initiated from Sikkim then it was certain to gain momentum. But Sikkim remaining unconcerned on the issue of the Greater Sikkim and the exhibition of an excessive interest by persons of 'weakened standing' from Darjeeling would be like praying to a husband for withdrawing TALAK. The production of sound could be possible with the clapping of two palms otherwise moving of the bogey of Greater Sikkim from Darjeeling alone could be a cry in the wilderness. Hence presently the issue has got infested with heavy inertia on account of it being lectured in public meetings in Darjeeling only by the persons who seem to be of infected reliability.
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