When Darjeeling Gorkha lad Prashant Tamang won the fiercely contested Indian Idol show, Indian Gorkhas were delirious with joy. The show created history by polling over 70 million votes — the highest for any Indian reality show. Tamang’s fight reflected the Indian Gorkha’s struggle for national recognition, finally redeemed by the humble cop from the West Bengal police force. The community was revelling in its moment in the spotlight when a radio jockey made a mockery of Tamang’s ethnic background, calling him a durbaan.
The remark, born out of a stereotype, broke the dam of years of Gorkha angst. With their moment of glory spoiled just when they had finally made it to a portal of Indian celebrities, the Gorkhas erupted in protest. It is a pity that a fellow countryman has reduced the image of the internationally acclaimed ‘bravest of the brave’ Gorkha to that of a mere gatekeeper.
Initially, ‘Gorkha’ was the collective term for warriors from Nepal. The Gorkhas believe and live up to their name as rakshaks — defenders, protectors or guardians. In 1815, the British retained the genus when the British-Gurkha regiments were raised. In 1947, they were renamed as the Indian-Gorkha Regiments of which there are 11 today. The ratio of Nepali and Indian Gorkhas in the army stands at 60:40. The Gorkha has metamorphosed from warrior to ethnic Indian, fanning out from the borders of Nepal. According to the Bharatiya Gorkha Parishang, there are about 600,000 Gorkhas in Uttarakhand, about 200,000 in Himachal, 100,000 in Punjab, and they comprise 75 per cent of Darjeeling’s population. There are many in the Northeast, Jammu, Assam, Nagpur, Ranchi and Bangalore. Although state-level OBC status has been granted to Gorkhas in Uttarkhand, HP and Punjab, it remains a dream nationally. A suit filed by representative advocate Lt. Col. V.K. Sharma (retd) to the National Commission for Backward classes to include Gorkhas in the Central list is still pending. Despite being residents for more than two centuries, the Indian Gorkhas have no place in the ethnography of the states where they live, resulting in an erosion of their history, heritage and culture.http://www.businessworld.in/content/view/2620/2698
4 comments:
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But Now I see some of the communities of Gorkhas are included in the Central List of OBC in the said states. And in Himchala whole Gorkhas are included in the central List of OBC.
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