I recently visited Siliguri and nearby places and had the shock of my life.
People from Darjeeling (Nepalis) who are agitating for a separate state of Gorkhaland have written it on stone at the places from where you drive towards Darjeeling. They do not like the suffix WB (West Bengal) on vehicles bearing the registration number. It should be GL. Otherwsie you are not allowed to drive. Our taxi driver told us that he is afraid to drive to Darjeeling or park there overnight as wheels or the engine may disappear.
Siliguri happens to be a sub-division of Darjeeling district but situated on the plains. It is the second most important city in the state economically after Kolkata. There are a lot of Nepalis living there peacefully. Many are quite wealthy. I found an officer speaking in Nepali to a client at State Bank of India. No problems. After all you have to absorb everything if you want peace. And that is what the state government has been doing for years together. It seems the ruling Left Front and its constituent parties are more interested in the assembly election next year and have learnt no lessons from Subhash Ghishing and Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) which took many lives. The second part of the same story is continuing with Bimal Gurung, once his deputy, now leading from the front through Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). But it seems the end this time will be much worse.
I felt very sad. My formative years were spent in Darjeeling which was known as the queen of all the hill stations in our country then. I studied in Mount Hermon School upto Class-VI. Just memories keep creeping from the shadows of the past.
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