The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is a semi-autonomous council for the

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, ...

and

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 ...

districts of

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 ...

state in

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 GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the

Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council 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 ...

, which was formed in 1988 and administered the Darjeeling hills for 23 years. GTA presently consists of three hill subdivisions

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 ...

Mirik Mirik is a small town and a Notified Area of Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Mirik subdivision. The name ''Mirik'' comes from the Lepcha language, Lepcha words ''Mir-Yok'' meaning "place bur ...

, some areas of

Siliguri subdivision Siliguri subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Police stations Police stations in the Siligu ...

of Darjeeling district and the whole of

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 ...

under its authority.

History

Gorkhaland is the name of the proposed state in India that the Nepali-speaking

Indian Gorkha Indian Gorkhas also known as Nepali Indians, are Nepali language-speaking Indians. The modern term "Indian Gorkha" is used to differentiate the ethnic Gorkhas from Nepalis. Indian Gorkhas are citizens of India as per the gazette notificatio ...

ethnic group in the district of

and

and the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

in northern region of

have expressed a desire to create. A demand for a separate administrative unit in Darjeeling has existed since 1909, when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling submitted a memorandum to

Minto-Morley Reforms The Indian Councils Act 1909, commonly known as the Morley–Minto or Minto–Morley Reforms, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a limited increase in the involvement of Indians in the governance of British In ...

demanding a separate administrative setup. The term ''Gorkhaland'' was coined 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 ...

, leader of

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 ...

, who led a violent agitation for its formation in the 1980s. This movement culminated with the formation of

(DGHC) in 1988. The DGHC did not fulfill its goal of forming a new state, which led to the downfall of Subhash Ghisingh and the rise of another party

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is a registered unrecognized political party, that campaigns for the creation of a separate state Gorkhaland within India, out of districts in the north of West Bengal. The party was launched on 7 October 2007. T ...

(GJM) headed by

Bimal Gurung Bimal Gurung is an Indian politician and one of the founders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), a political party demanding the formation of a separate state of Gorkhaland within India. He was the chairperson of Gorkhaland Territorial Administ ...

in 2007, which launched a second agitation for a Gorkhaland state.

Formation of GTA

After three years of agitation for a state of Gorkhaland led by GJM, the GJM reached an agreement with the state government to form a semi-autonomous body to administer the Darjeeling hills. A bill for the creation of GTA was passed in the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

on 2 September 2011. The GTA aimed to have administrative, executive and financial powers but no legislative powers. A 10-member joint verification committee headed by a retired High Court judge examined the demand to bring the Gorkha-inhabited pockets of the Dooars and the

Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...

under the GTA.

Memorandum of Agreement

The Memorandum of Agreement for GTA was signed on 18 July 2011 at Pintail Village near

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

in the presence of Union Home Minister

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...

, West Bengal chief minister

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...

, the then Darjeeling Lok Sabha MP

Jaswant Singh Major Jaswant Singh (; 3 January 193827 September 2020) was an officer of the Indian Army and an Indian Cabinet Minister. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was one of India's longest serving parliamen ...

and

leaders. The agreement was signed by West Bengal Home Secretary G.D. Gautama, Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary K.K. Pathak and

general secretary Roshan Giri.

Demand for GATA

On 29 October 2011, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), Dooars Unit signed an 18-point agreement at Mongpoo, after which these organizations jointly proposed a new administrative body called the Gorkhaland and Adivasi Territorial Administration (GATA) in place of the GTA. The ABAVP decided to agree to incorporate 196 mouzas of the Dooars and 199 mouzas of the Terai region into the proposed GATA.

President's assent and high-power committee report

The

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

gave her assent to the GTA Bill of West Bengal on 7 March 2012. The West Bengal government issued a gazette notification for the GTA Act on 14 March 2012, signalling preparations for elections for the GTA. In a meeting held on 24 March 2012 between GJM leaders and the West Bengal government, it was decided that the election to the GTA would be held in the end of June or in July 2012. The Justice Sen Committee would be requested to submit its report on the inclusion of additional areas of Terai and Dooars in the GTA by early June 2012. The WB government released a list of 45 constituencies of the GTA on 26 May 2012 to which elections are to be held in July 2012. The high-powered committee headed by retired judge

Shyamal Kumar Sen Shyamal Kumar Sen (born 25 November 1940) is an Indian jurist who served as a chief justice of the Allahabad High Court and also as a Governor of West Bengal. He was appointed governor in May 1999 following the resignation of A R Kidwai and s ...

that was set up by the West Bengal government recommended inclusion of just five

mouza In Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of India a mouza or mauza (also mouja) is a type of administrative district, corresponding to a specific land area within which there may be one or more settlements. Before the 20th century, the term referred to a ...

s under the proposed GTA although the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had demanded 398 mouzas from the Dooars and Terai regions. The West Bengal government announced that it would set up a three-member "Fact Verification Committee" to go into the recommendations of Justice Sen Committee after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha rejected its report. The

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...

admitted on 19 June 2012 the case moved by Gorkha National Liberation Front leader Subhash Ghisingh challenging the legality of the GTA. Justice Dipankar Dutta told the three signatories to the GTA agreement – the central government, the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha – to file affidavits stating their stand on Ghisingh's contention.

Elections

GTA election 2012

The West Bengal government announced that the election for the GTA would be held on 29 July 2012. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha announced that it would contest the GTA polls, which it had earlier threatened to boycott over the Justice Sen-headed committee recommendations on territorial inclusion of the Dooars and Terai that it had rejected. After a period of silence, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha announced the names of its GTA election nominees. Parties that formed the Gorkhaland Task Force (

CPRM Content Protection for Recordable Media and Pre-Recorded Media (CPRM / CPPM) is a mechanism for controlling the copying, moving, and deletion of digital media on a host device, such as a personal computer, or other player. It is a form of digi ...

ABGL Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League ( ABGL) (also called All India Gorkha League (AIGL/IGL)) is a political party working amongst the Nepali-speaking Gorkha population in Darjeeling District and Kalimpong District of West Bengal, India. The party was ...

, GNLF(C), Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha and others) decided not contest the GTA elections. Both

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

and

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 ...

fielded candidates in the election. The GNLF decided to boycott the elections and its chairman filed a case in the Kolkata High Court challenging the GTA. The CPI(M) withdrew the nominations of all its 13 candidates from the GTA elections, alleging threats and intimidation by the GJM and the GJM received 28 seats of the GTA uncontested. In the elections of the remaining 17 seats of the GTA held on 29 July 2012, GJM candidates won from all the constituencies. Sanchabir Subba, the rebel

candidate from Gitdabling-Nimbong, narrowly lost to the party's official contestant Kalyan Dewan by 677 votes. The newly elected members of the GTA were sworn in on 4 August 2012 at Darjeeling in the presence of home minister

Sushilkumar Shinde Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...

and

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

. , - , , Political Party , Seats Contested , Seats Won , Net Change in Seats , - , , , 45, , 45, , -, First election , - , , , 17, , 0, , -, First election , -

2017 agitation and GTA under appointed administrators

In 2017, there was another agitation for Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills. The GTA councillors belonging to GJM resigned and burnt copies of the GTA memorandum of agreement and the GTA Act in June 2017, saying that the GTA had failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people. On 20 September 2017, the

West Bengal government The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

reconstituted the GTA and appointed rebel GJM leader Binoy Tamang as its chairperson. Before the 2019 Darjeeling assembly bye-election, Binoy Tamang stepped down as GTA chairman to contest the assembly bye-election. Anit Thapa was appointed the new GTA chairman. Before the

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for 292 of the 294 constituencies in West Bengal was held between 27 March to 29 April 2021 in eight phases. Voting for the two remaining constituencies was delayed to 30 September 2021. The ...

, the West Bengal government dissolved the Anit Thapa-led GTA Board of Administrators and handed over the administration of GTA to the GTA principal secretary.

GTA election 2022

After running the GTA with government-appointed administrators for 5 years (2017-2022), the West Bengal government announced that the election for the second GTA Sabha would be held on 26 June 2022. A total of 277 candidates, including 45 from Hamro Party, 36 from

Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (; BGPM) is a political party based in Darjeeling district and Kalimpong district of West Bengal in India. BGPM was founded on 9 September 2021. The president of the party is Anit Thapa, who was earlier a le ...

, 12 from

CPIM The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nat ...

, 10 from

, 5 from

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

and 169 independents, contested the GTA election. All elected members of the GTA Sabha took oath on 12 July 2022 in

in a function that was attended by West Bengal Chief Minister

. On 14 July 2022, West Bengal Governor

Jagdeep Dhankhar Jagdeep Dhankhar (born 18 May 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer, who is serving as the 14th and current vice president of India, since 11 August 2022. Prior to serving in this position, he served as the Governor of West Bengal. He also ...

administered the oath of office to Anit Thapa as the Chief Executive of GTA. The five members of the GTA Sabha nominated by the West Bengal government took oath on 25 August 2022. Two Hamro Party councillors of the GTA joined

on 5 November 2022. , - , , Political Party , Seats Contested , Seats Won , Net Change in Seats , - , , 45 , 8 , First election , - , - , - , , 36 , 27 , First election , - , - , - , , 10 , 5 , +5 , - , - , - , , 12 , 0 , First election , - , - , - , , 5 , 0 , First election , - , - , - , (169 contestants) , 45 , 5 , +5 , - , -

Regional political parties of Gorkhaland

(GJM) *

(GNLF) *

(BGPM) * Hamro Party (HP) *

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 ...

(CPRM) *

Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League ( ABGL) (also called All India Gorkha League (AIGL/IGL)) is a political party working amongst the Nepali-speaking Gorkha population in Darjeeling District and Kalimpong District of West Bengal, India. The party was ...

(ABGL) * Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha (GRNM) *

Gorkha Rashtriya Congress Gorkha Rashtriya Congress (GRC) is a political party spearheading the unification of Darjeeling and Dooars with Sikkim. D.K. Bomzan was the founding president of this party. After his death on 7 October 2010, Nima Lama became the new president. ...

(GRC) *

Jana Andolan Party Jana Andolan Party (JAP) or All India Jana Andolan Party (AIJAP) is a political party based in Kalimpong district and Darjeeling district of India. JAP was founded in 2016. The president of the party is Dr. Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is a former ...

(JAP)

Social organisations supporting Gorkhaland

Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh ( ne, भारतीय गोर्खा परिसंघ; translation: ''Indian Gorkha Confederation'') is a non-government national-level organization of Gorkhas (Nepali) ethnic group of India. Bharatiya Gorkha ...

(Bhagop)

References

External links

Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
{{Proposed states and territories of India Politics of Gorkhaland Government of West Bengal Autonomous regions of India 2011 in Indian politics Politics of Darjeeling district Darjeeling district Kalimpong district 2012 establishments in West Bengal