A 100 days of strike affecting the daily lives and creating pathetic circumstances for a new start. Though moving on leaving the horrible glimpses of the darkest dream was not a big thing for us, the Gorkhas of Darjeeling.
This was not the first time the people had been paralysed by such situations. In the mid 1980s, Darjeeling had been a war zone, sacrificing the lives of hundreds of innocents. Such injustice were buried under the dictatorship of the state government but that was not the only time we, the people of Darjeeling, were blindfolded and misguided by the local leaders. History has been repeated and is being repeated again and again, darkening the future of the Indian Gorkhas.
To be reminded, Darjeeling is a small hill station located in West Bengal and the demand for a separate state for identity has been a long story I have been hearing since a child.
Apart from the matter of identity, thousands of youth from this place, including me, had faced serious issues like a lack of higher education and unemployment. A lack of education leads to unawareness of basic rights which forces people to live in pathetic conditions one can’t even imagine.
The worldwide popularity of Darjeeling tea should make a local of this place proud but its something that makes me feel so disturbed and frustrated, knowing the facts of a tea garden area’s life. The labourers are forced to work under a pay of ₹90 per day. Just imagine an amount of hardly ₹3000 per month to run your livelihood. That’s the dark story behind this beautiful hill station’s livelihood. 60% of the people here are tea garden workers, so how is it going to be possible for them to come out of poverty, when they aren’t even able to provide a good basic education to their children?
The point is, all our opportunities are being buried under the dictatorship of the state government. We could have chosen the path of violence through all the riots held, but by nature we have the highest level of tolerance and patience. Yet, it doesn’t justify to be treated this way – to do whatever one wants and force a people to lead a miserable life with a misguided future.