The Gorkhaland Movement 1907 – Gorkhaland’s first proposal was presented before the council of Morley-Minto Reforms. After that, and on many occasions, requests for independence from Bengal were made to the British government and then the Independent Indian government. The Hillmen’s Darjeeling Association sent a report to the Minto-Morley Changes requesting a different administrative structure. 1941 – It requested that Darjeeling be separated from Bengal and that it become a province of the Chief Commissioner in 1941. 1947 – India’s undivided Communist Party sent a memorandum to the Constituent Assembly requesting the establishment of Gorkhasthan, comprising the Darjeeling district and Sikkim, in 1947. 1952 – The Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) met with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and called for Bengal to be split in 1952. 1955 – Daulat Das Bokhim, President of the Shramik Sangh District, submitted a memorandum to the Chairman of the State Reorganization Committee calling for the establishment of a separate state comprising Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar District. 1977-1981 – The Government of West Bengal passed a unanimous resolution supporting the creation of an autonomous district council consisting of Darjeeling and related areas. In 1981, Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister, issued a letter from Pranta Parishad requesting a separate State. 1980 – The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) was incorporated by Subhash Ghising. The Gorkha National Liberation Front is a political party in West Bengal, India’s Darjeeling District. 1986 – In 1986, the GNLF initiated the most violent uprising in the history of the Gorkhaland movement. It was led by Subhash Ghising. 1988 – The movement of 1986 eventually led to the formation of a semi-autonomous body named the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988 to administer certain areas of Darjeeling district. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council became independent. The GNLF dropped the separate state demand. 2004 – The fourth elections to the DGHC were due in 2004. However, the government decided not to hold elections and instead made Subhash Ghisingh the DGHC’s sole caretaker until a new tribal council for the Sixth Schedule was formed. Resentment among the DGHC’s former councillors grew rapidly. Bimal Gurung, once Ghising’s trusted assistant, chose to break away from the GNLF. 2005 – In 2005, the same parties signed an in-principle settlement memorandum to include Darjeeling in the Indian Constitution’s Sixth Schedule, which addresses tribal area administration. 2007 – In 2007, Bimal Gurung launched the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), calling the Gorkhaland ‘Sixth Schedule solution’ a betrayal. The same year, agitations for the separate demand for Gorkhaland increased. The new party once again increased the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state. 2011 – In 2011, the memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a semi-autonomous governing body for Darjeeling, was passed by the legislative assembly of West Bengal to appease the GJM. The West Bengal state assembly election held on April 18, 2011, saw GJM candidates win three Darjeeling hill assembly seats, proving the demand for Gorkhaland in Darjeeling was still high. 2013 – On July 30, 2013, the Congress Working Committee unanimously adopted a resolution proposing that the INC-led central government establish a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh. Due to Andhra Pradesh’s division, the demand for separation once again rose high in 2013. Under GJM leadership, the campaign became pacifist. GJM followed the revolutionary “Janta Bandh” form of protest. In response, GJM declared a specific form of ‘Janta Bandh’ protest in which people in the hills were asked to peacefully stay indoors on August 13 and 14 without picketing or using intimidation. That proved to be a major success for the government and an embarrassment.