For sometime now Gorkhas from across India are watching events unfold in the hills of Darjeeling. The Mamata Banerjee government of West Bengal has brought in a notification that three languages would be taught in the schools of the state -- English, Hindi and Bangla. This is an attack on the mother tongue of Gorkhas -- Nepali, which is a language enshrined in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution.

The news goes back and forth some say it is obligatory but not for the hills of Darjeeling and Dooars included, but the rest of Bengal, while some sections say it is compulsory, implying cultural imperialism. There is a protest on in the hills of Darjeeling, and the situation is volatile forcing local MP SS Ahluwalia, who was traveling abroad, to write a letter to the Prime Minister raising the issue.

As reported in the press and doing the rounds on social media is news that the matter is serious enough for a section of the BJP to have taken it up with the BJP national executive. The BJP and GJM which represents Darjeeling are political partners. The GJM is the junior partner and this political partnership has not been cost effective for Gorkha interests for the last eight years.

Point at issue is that there is cultural imperialism being imposed selectively on a small section of society, and not a word of discussion from the mainstream media in Lutyens New Delhi. Is free speech limited in action and scope, can language imperialism be imposed and not discussed at all? Or are we going to say that language is a state subject, India is a linguist state, if so, and then why has a non-Bangla  speaking area Darjeeling, been clubbed with Bengal when historically it was never a part of Bengal?

Language is the backbone of any culture. A small child is spoken to in the mother tongue. He is intuitively taught to think in the mother tongue by parents and other relatives, siblings and friends, but the three language formula will force him to look beyond, thus confusing the tender mind at an impressionable age. The knowledge of most of the things that a child knows and  picks up, the knowledge is acquired in mother tongue. Five is a critical age; a child formally goes to school, where the three language formula is applicable. These languages confuse the child and thus are born the modern languages not defined but arrived at with prevailing working conditions. 
English, the language of Knowledge and one that generates jobs.Hinglish, a new working language that bridges the gap between the two.  Hindi a working language and various vernacular languages  which are spoken throughout the length and breadth of the nation.Take a look a large number of languages are dying in the search for jobs, whose start point is education. Thus the modern demand of society is gradually killing languages and each time a language or a dialect dies so does a part of its culture. See the case abroad most nations need one language they devote time on other languages as a means to generate and advance skill sets thus improving their livelihood.

The imposition of Bangla in the hills of Darjeeling is sinister. Once the language is imposed all signposts showing signs on national highways, bill boards etc all will be in Bangla. It will take the wind out of the sails of the Gorkhaland agitation and those found agitating can be booked by the state administration on communal lines. Most hill stations in India have schools which are highly respected and those children who come from all over India will be forced to learn Bangla.

The Gorkhas are in a minority in all the hill states of India. Actually they require linguist minority status, to preserve their language. Why should Nepali speaking people not be allowed to preserve their language?  Language is the very essence of any civil society and showcases its art, culture, and way of life, clothes and the very essence, of a human personality. By attacking the very core interfering with the identity of the Gorkhas there is a systematic assault on their very being.

The society needs to preserve its language because that is the very essence of its being. Language is mother tongue and this is one mother tongue that neither generates jobs, nor is scientifically based, but is cultural centric, rich in heritage, unites vast sections of Gorkha society, is spoken in the Gorkha regiments of the Indian Army, and is now under assault. A twofold action plan is required, firstly, Gorkhas must get linguist minority status, and secondly, it should not be mandatory but a matter of choice to choose one's third language in school. Gorkhasare spread in at least sixteen geographical areas, and the language is also spoken in Gorkha regiments, thus the centre needs to intervene. What signals are we sending to our neighbors, one with water another with language?

                                                                        (The writer has authored Gorkha: In Search of Identity and Gorkha: Society and Politics)