Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League ( ABGL) (also called All India Gorkha League (AIGL/IGL)) is a political party working amongst the Nepali-speaking

Gorkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

population in

Darjeeling District Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters. Kurseon ...

and

Kalimpong District Kalimpong district is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. Originally known as Dalingkot tehsil, the region was alternatively under the control of Sikkim and Bhutan. In 1865, it was annexed from Bhutan by British India under the Treaty ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The party was founded in 1943 by

Damber Singh Gurung Damber Singh Gurung (23 January 1900– 7 April 1948) was an Indian politician, lawyer and social worker. He founded the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, a political party, in 1943. Born in Kalimpong, West Bengal, Gurung represented the Indian ...

. ABGL is currently part of an alliance of BJP, GNLF, CPRM and other parties with Pratap Khati as its convenor. ABGL stands for peaceful democracy in the Darjeeling hills. It advocates for a full-fledged state of

Gorkhaland The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is a semi-autonomous council for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal state in India. The GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 198 ...

. Ahead of the 1999

DGHC Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) (1988–2012), also once known for a short period of time as Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council was a semi-autonomous body that looked after the administration of the hills of Darjeeling District in t ...

elections, ABGL was part of the United Front, an alliance consisting of

Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) is a political party based in the Darjeeling District and Kalimpong District of the Indian state of West Bengal. CPRM was formed in 1996 by Communist Party of India (Marxist) dissidents (a major g ...

, ABGL,

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

Bharatiya Gorkha Janashakti Bharatiya Gorkha Janashakti (BGJ or BGJS; 'Indian Gorkha People's Power') is a political party in the Darjeeling District of the Indian state of West Bengal. BGJS was launched in 1998, anticipating the 1999 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) ...

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

, Bharatiya Nepali Bir Gorkha and Sikkim Rashtriya Mukti Morcha. ABGL was later a part of the People's Democratic Front (PDF), a six-party alliance led by CPRM and including

(Hills),

Gorkha National Liberation Front (C.K. Pradhan) Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of the ...

, ABGL,

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

and Gorkha Democratic Front (a party that was formed by Madan Tamang before his return to ABGL). PDF stood for Gorkha autonomy but was opposed to the

Gorkha National Liberation Front Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of the ...

(GNLF) led by

Subhash Ghisingh Subash Ghisingh was an Indian politician who was the leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which he founded in 1980. He was the chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in West Bengal, India from 1988 to 2008. He spearheaded ...

. On 21 May 2010, ABGL president

Madan Tamang Madan Tamang was an Indian politician and the president of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), a moderate faction of the Gorkhaland movement. Opposed to violent methods for the process, he stood for a negotiated settlement to the Gorkhaland di ...

was stabbed to death (allegedly by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supporters) in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

, which led to a spontaneous shutdown in the three Darjeeling hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling,

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

and

Kurseong Kurseong is a town and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Kurseong subdivision. Located at an altitude of , Kurseong is from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throughout ...

. Subsequently his wife Bharati Tamang was elected as the ABGL president. ABGL contested the West Bengal legislative assembly elections held on 18 April 2011 from three constituencies in the Darjeeling hills. The three candidates Bharati Tamang from

, Tribhuwan Rai from

and Shiva Kumar Pradhan from

all lost the elections. Due to internal fights, ABGL broke up into three factions, headed by Bharati Tamang, Pratap Khati and Laxman Pradhan, respectively. After the merger of the factions of Pratap Khati and Laxman Pradhan and the dissolution of the Bharati Tamang faction, only one ABGL headed by Pratap Khati exists today.

References

{{Reflist Politics of Gorkhaland Political parties in West Bengal Indian Hindu political parties Political parties established in 1943 Politics of Darjeeling district 1943 establishments in India