Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Support our Journalism

9th Anniversary: Free Tote & Mug

Has 6th Schedule outlived its use? Political deals do the work now, Darjeeling to Nagaland

Amit Shah has set up a panel to work out a ‘permanent political solution’ to the Gorkha issue in Darjeeling. Where do such settlements leave the 6th Schedule?

I started my professional career in the IAS as the sub-divisional magistrate in Kalimpong in 1987, then a part of Darjeeling and now a full-fledged district. This was the time when the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland was at its peak. Normal life had been disrupted by a spate of violence in which 1,200-1,500 people lost their lives within a span of two years — from mid-1986 to the signing of the Darjeeling Accord on 22 August 1988. The functioning of West Bengal government offices, including treasuries, had come to a virtual halt, and all personnel with Bengali surnames were forced to quit their hearths and homes in the hill subdivisions.

When I took charge of the subdivision in August 1987, the only other functional offices were the sub-jail and the subdivisional hospital, as doctors and nurses had been exempted from the GNLF diktat to quit Darjeeling by 15 August that year. Needless to say, these were tough times, and we had to keep essential services running during intermittent strikes, closures, and complete bandhs. As the CBSE and ICSE examinations could not be postponed, convoys of army trucks were pressed into service to transport children to Siliguri from eight to 10 important centres. Many students, accompanied by their teachers and parents, were put up in dharamshalas (rest houses) in Siliguri for the duration of the exams. Things started settling down after the accord, and I remained in touch with friends, colleagues and former adversaries from the region for four decades.

As such, I am “entitled” to reflect on the genesis of, and prognosis regarding the lingering issues and concerns in the context of the “permanent political solution” process initiated by Home Minister Amit Shah on 22 August 2026, the 38th anniversary of the GNLF accord, at Sukna in the foothills of........

© ThePrint