Conflict of perceptions in national print medias.

Hillman the analyst, KalimNews: In reading two news items related to GJM President, Bimal Gurung in respective news media the Telegraph by Vivek Chhetri and the Statesman News Service of same dates 08 October 2013, contains two different stories, totally different from each other, in reference to the leader’s speech during the Morcha foundation in Kurseong on 7 October 2013.

While the Telegraph news details a matured outlook of Bimal Gurung stating now the movement is to be based on dialogue and peaceful agitation, and that he had no plans whatsoever to call general strikes in the hills in the immediate future. In the same breath he claims the Gorkhaland agitation was started on Gandhian precepts and that many leaders of recent times had been in custodial detention as a result of the suppressive attitude of the State, he assures the statehood demand becomes more urgent than before. At the end of the article he asks a question if the North Bengal development Minister can come to hills wearing a Dhaka topi why not the Gorkhas?

This is an interesting question for all the hill peoples to enquire into the history of the origin when the use of the topi was transferred from Provincial Bengal (Dhaka) to Nepal. In alignment with the chronological history of Nepal the more aristocratic headgear was ‘karchepee’ which was a beautiful piece of handiwork than ordinary tailoring. This type of headgear is seen on the iconography of the Pala dynasty of Buddhist kings ruling Bihar and Bengal (8-12 century) and who were overthrown by the Sen invaders responsible for totally decimating Buddhism in Bengal and Bihar. Following which Bengal was overtaken by Turko Islamic kings and later by the Mughals (Mongols). It is more possible than otherwise that the culture of karchepee headgear was transferred to Nepal on account of the Palas ruling Nepal. This writer wishes to quote the Jesuit priest late Fr. Pew, history Prof. North Point 1960 – in defining the word Nepali as Naya-Pali (Nepali) which possibly could suggest the famous Pali king Nayapal which could be more closer to the truth of the word. 

In the same light it is also perceptually imagined that the Dhaka topi is a local version in imitation of the symbolically Islamic cap which probably was introduced in Bengal and Bihar under Islamic rule of Turkmen initially and thereafter Mughal muslim rule. Therefore the Minister from Bengal wearing a Dhaka topi in the hills is symbolic of the ancient Pala/Turkman/Mughal rule domination of the hill tribes of the Himalayas. So the Minister appropriately wore the cap as a sign of domination than a public relations stance. 

Therefore if at all the Gorkhas are to expose their distinct ethnicity and culture every constellation of tribes and communities within the Gorkha fold require to display their distinct culture in contrast from the plains of Bengal to the rest of India, garbed by the original attires of all hill communities of the entire Himalayas. This is the defining implications of census 1931 wherein all the hill communities were referred as the ‘hill tribes’. This aspect has already been demanded by GJM in the GTA agreement 2011 wherein the hill tribes’ status now again rolled back in census 2011 as Hill Tribes (now Scheduled Tribes). This probably is about to be a reality. Infact it is the necessary constitutional criteria to make the demand for Gorkhaland UT/State come true. The Gorkhaland perceived by GJM map no doubt, reading the constitutional language relating to Darjeeling dist and Dooars, Gorkhaland will be a composite unit of both the two areas. That is, the new state would be either called Gorkhaland or Darjeeling & Dooars State or UT whichever legally applicable for consideration as per the constitutional writ. 

Whereas the same subject dealt with the other print media the Statesman News Service belies its title, “Rein in festivities, Gurung tells people” followed by another subtitle “GJMM Chief says the statehood movement has hurt everyone” may catch the eyes of every reader but with a somewhat one sided version of the report, as compared to that scribed by Vivek Chhetri of the Telegraph. The perception implied by the Statesman column is entirely based on a dress code as the main thrust of Bimal Gurung’s speech requires to be reframed. The implication of the dress code is a rather touchy subject and which Bimal has already hinted that wearing the national dress of Nepal as only that of Gorkhas is not to be imposed restrictively “unlike the first period of the agitation started earlier”. This is a marked change diluting the dress code from an individual aspect to that of a composite group viz. in sync with census 1931, the hill tribes of the Himalayas. No doubt he is aware that the GJM demand to grant all Gorkhas as Scheduled Tribes is probably already on the anvil. (This aspect has been dealt elsewhere by this writer in the preceding article of the same date). 

The Statesman News Service has viewed Bimal Gurung’s speech with a squint eye and accordingly produced a lopsided view of the entire proceedings indicating a perverted view of the transliterations, with an eye in casting a shadow of divide among the hill tribes of the Himalayas. The article is certainly not the true concept of Bimal Gurung’s speech as this in total contrast of the same version produced by Vivek Chhetri in the Telegraph. 

It is a concern of great regret that the Statesman News Service seems to be more a mouth piece of the powerful then delivering a sense of justice to the beleaguered – by not hyping the project to benefit the interests of vestment, but relating the true view as expressed and not coined with perspective views and tarring the face of the matter beyond recognition. Journalism now seems a business than playing the role of the Fifth estate considered as the fifth pillar of democracy. After all has democracy ever existed in West Bengal past three decades, and even after the change in govt. the game is still in play, at least as far as the Gorkhaland statehood demand is concerned.