For the last 103 years, the people of the Darjeeling Hills have been demanding self-rule, arguing that they are historically, ethnically, linguistically, culturally, socially, economically and socially distinct from the various other population groups of West Bengal. It was against this backdrop that Subhash Ghisingh launched the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) on 5 April 1980. Thereafter, from 1986 to 1988, Ghisingh led a violent movement for a separate Gorkhaland state, resulting in some 1200 deaths.
Inevitably, the idea of 'Gorkhaland' has made a strong impression on the people of the Hills. But in a 30 May speech, Bimal Gurung, the now-influential chairman of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJMM), who was responsible for Ghisingh falling into eclipse, gave the idea of Gorkhaland a new moniker, calling it the Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh. According to Gurung, the new name is an effort to include the indigenous population of the Siliguri plains as well as the Dooars.
Changes in territory and name are not new for Darjeeling, where politicians and political movements have repeatedly changed course, dragging the Hills along new paths at whim. At the moment, the GNLF is arguing that Darjeeling should come under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, and be made an autonomous area of West Bengal. Similarly, the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), which had previously demanded autonomy for the Hills, is now calling for a separate state; the Gorkha National Congress, meanwhile, wants to form a Gorkhaland that includes Sikkim. For its part, the Congress party at times calls for an autonomous district and at other times becomes entangled in the idea of a union territory under the Centre. In all this, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) is in a hurry to give the Hills some form of 'high-powered' zonal autonomy.
In 1905, when the nationalist wave was sweeping across India, Assam, Bihar and Orissa all fell within the 189,000 square miles of Bengal. Deeming a system of provincial rule impractical in a territory of this size, and eager to get the administration back on its feet quickly, the then-governor, General George Curzon, established various administrative departments. In 1906, the British placed Darjeeling in Bhagalpur District of Bihar, in a bid to ensure that the Swaraj ('home rule') movement being waged in Bengal did not affect the hills nearby. At that time, no 'tiger of Bengal' protested this attempt to separate Darjeeling from Bengal. On the other hand, the activists of Darjeeling did ask for a different administrative set-up. In 1912, the year the British moved their capital from Calcutta to New Delhi, Darjeeling was once again placed under the Bengal administrative department.