I Want To Hold Your Hand

Isn’t it ironic that the party which made people to hold hands as a show of solidarity for Gorkhaland is now bullying people against holding hands? I wonder how our demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland is related to couples holding hands in Chowrasta. Could someone please explain it to me, how are these couples impeding our demand for Gorkhaland by holding hands? I don’t see any connection, perhaps the GJMM leadership does.

I was born, brought up and I have lived my entire life in Darjeeling, walking around the Mall road with my girlfriend and hanging out in Chowrasta are as much part of my life as the air I breath and the water I drink. I cannot imagine a life without Chowrasta, or a life without young couples falling in love and walking down the Mall road hand in hand, this perhaps is one of the most enduring qualities of Darjeeling, that people love.

Darjeeling is [or till few days back was] one of the most tolerant places in India, I don’t say tolerant because young couples can walk hand in hand, but because we are/were not threatened by the so called moral police till date. We had a right to personal freedom and freedom of expression at least in terms of holding the hand of the person we are in love with. I don’t see anything wrong in holding hands; it’s a sign of trust, a sign of companionship, a sign of protectiveness, a sign of belongingness. Only our so called leaders seem to have problem with our personal freedom. I can bet my life that every GJMM leader has at one point in life walked through Chowrasta and Mall road holding the hand of the person they love, be it their girlfriend or their wife or their mother or their daughter or their brother or their father; so why this farce?

Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) from what I understood was formed to help people during the time of distress; it was supposed to be a voluntary force which would protect the people from the hardliners of the plains. Hardliners supported by CPI (M) and promoted by organizations such as Aamra Bangali, Jan Chetna Mancha, Jan Jagaran Mancha and so on. However, within a year of its formation this so called voluntary force has gone on to become a law unto itself and a tool of threat for the insistent, assertive and forceful leadership of the GJMM.

Stupid as it may seem, the actions taken by GLP in the recent past is nothing but the manifestation of the intellectual capacity of our so called leaders and their hypocrisy. Foremost, our leaders do not understand the meaning of the word volunteer; a volunteer is defined as someone who offers her/his services free of cost. The GLP gets paid, not much, but Rs. 1500/- is still a pay, thus GLP by its very nature is not a voluntary organization as it was supposed to be. It is a pseudo frontal organization [a local militia] raised by a political party for fulfilling its selfish interest. That interest being, intimidating those who do not obey the dictums set by a bunch of intellectually challenged buffoons.  

Some diehard GJMM fanatics pretend not to mind, their argument being “GLP is bringing morality amongst our youth.” I ask, “So what’s the next step”? Perhaps banning girls from wearing pants or asking guys to cut their hair short or may be to ask everyone to act like a programmed robot? I will do whatever GLP or GJMM asks of me, very happily at that, if any of these actions are going to facilitate the formation of Gorkhaland. The sad fact is, none of this is related to our demand for Gorkhaland. All these atrocious diktats are being passed around to terrorize us.

It has been understood by all that the GLP choose to act like a Gestapo or the feared revolutionary guards of Iran or the Taliban to instill fear in the hearts and minds of people, but under whose instructions are they doing this? I wonder if the individual GLP cadre out of boredom are taking ridiculous responsibilities of their own self or is Col. Alley is to be blamed. May be it’s a particular leader in the GJMM central committee who is sending imprudent diktats like these, or it could be the entire GJMM top brass. Whoever is responsible, should realize that actions like these allow people to see the real face of a so called “democratic movement.” When personal freedom is curtailed, people tend to fight back, and this backlash can swipe the GJMM off their base.

Looking at the way the GLP cadres are behaving these days, I strongly feel, this saying is justified, “kaam payinas buhari, patha ko c**do kaana” [if you do not have anything to engage you, why not try scratching a calf’s butt]... It is apparent that these dunces and their so called leaders take themselves too seriously and have nothing better to do, so they start to harass people. People like you and I.

It is high time for us – we the people of Darjeeling, to speak out against this Talibanization of our beloved and tolerant Darjeeling hills.

Perhaps we can take heart from the Free Hugs Campaign, and say out loud “I want to hold your hand.”



Hope! I made some sense.