Under the Shadow of Gorkhaland

The Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal and Sikkim, which have had a shared history of interaction among multiple communities, are today demarcated by their federal borders, as defined by the Indian Nation State. These absolute margins spatially separate out the previously homogeneous populations, causing them to fragment. The Lepcha tribe and their erstwhile homeland of Máyel Lyáng (North Bengal, Sikkim, East Nepal, and West Bhutan) is an example. Post-independence, the demarcation of the Indian border, the formation of West Bengal and the merger of Sikkim with India splintered the Lepchas into two predominant fragments in Sikkim and West Bengal, respectively. These spatial fixations have brought about their own political trajectories and, although the two Lepcha groups have a common history, they have each had divergent lived experiences of their own. The paper explores the ramifications of these territorial boundaries on the Lepchas of the Darjeeling Hills who, with their distinct ethnopolitical articulations, are entangled in demands for a separate Gorkhaland state by the Gorkhas within the framework of Indian Nation State.