As violent clashes between West Bengal police and protesters demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland continue in the Darjeeling hills, here’s exploring the issue from the prism of traditional Nepali proverbs:

Chokta Khana Gayeko Budi Jhol Ma Dubera Mori

[The woman who wanted to feast on meat drowned in the soup]

On May 17, the Trinamool Congress won the civic polls in a small town called Mirik in the Darjeeling hills. It was the first time in over three decades that a party from the plains had achieved the feat. But a Facebook post by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing that Bangla would be made compulsory in all schools in the state led to a massive outcry in the hills forcing her to make an exception for schools in the region. Subsequent protests and the related violence also forced her to deploy the Army and curb freedom of the local press.

Her alliance with the Gorkha National Liberation Front, a strong reason behind TMC’s political success in the hills, now lies in tatters with the hill party officially joining hands with the dominant Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha. The clear signs of TMC’s ascendance in the hills until a few weeks ago have now made way for a return to mistrust among the locals of parties from Kolkata. “There are mistakes this government could have avoided….I am afraid the effect of a lot of good work done by the chief minister in the last few years was recently nullified…,” a senior IAS officer who has served in Darjeeling told The Telegraph.

Achana Ko Pir Khukuri Le Jandaina

[The sword doesn’t know the pain of the wounded]

Senior journalists and political commentators are forwarding various theories to explain the turn of events that led to the current stalemate in Darjeeling. A popular one goes like this: Didi’s success in the hills made her overconfident and led to her overlooking the ‘hill factor’ when making Bangla compulsory, a move that was immediately labelled as “infringement on the Nepali language”.

There is also this other, more intriguing, reading: The call to make Bangla compulsory is Trinamool’s response to BJP’s recent attempts at religious consolidation in the state. Didi would have predicted the protests in the hills but was willing to go ahead all the same in a bid to showcase herself as the protector of the Bengali cultural consciousness.

While there is no dearth of expert opinions emanating from New Delhi and Kolkata, a rather sad theme common in all is that the concerns of the people of Darjeeling don’t seem to amount to much in the larger scheme of things.

Three decades after the first full-scale statehood agitation in the hills, Darjeeling’s drinking water problem remains embarrassingly acute. Coffee machines, locals complain, refuse to work after 6pm because electricity fluctuates between low voltage and lower. The poets are moving out, shifting to suburban Siliguri and writing sadder poems.

Narrow gauge is as true a descriptor for Darjeeling’s roads as it is for the toy train track. As big political plans get hatched, there’s very little being done to make people’s lives better.

Maanchhe Takchha Mudo, Bancharo Takchha Ghudo

[Man targets wood, axe targets knee]

One of the more pressing fears in Darjeeling right now is the future of the statehood demand itself. The last time the movement sprang to its feet was in 2007 when an RJ made a joke, stereotyping Prashant Tamang, an Indian Idol contestant, as a security guard.

Gorkhas across the country took umbrage and ensured Tamang got the votes he needed to win the Indian Idol title. Bimal Gurung spearheaded the social mobilisation campaign that rapidly morphed into a demand for a separate state, ousted Subhas Ghising from the hills and, following tripartite talks with Centre and the state, became the chief executive of Gorkha Territorial Administration. But the issue of Gorkhaland stays alive. Which is why opposition parties, archrivals of the Morcha until a few days ago, have now agreed to put up a united front on the “single-point agenda” of Gorkhaland.

On the streets, however, people are unsure if the current stir will translate into a decisive campaign for a separate state. Most Gorkhas feel that every time a movement reaches a crescendo, the local leadership settles for a makeshift solution, accepting some form of a semi-autonomous administrative body or the other instead of taking the movement to its logical conclusion.

Lhasa Ma Soon Cha, Mero Kaan Bucchai  

[There’s gold in Lhasa but no earrings for me]

One of the more enduring reasons behind the demand for Gorkhaland is a deep sense of insecurity among Gorkhas over their identity. The community feels the rest of the country doesn’t acknowledge their contribution to nation-building and clubs them, based on their language, with people from Nepal.

There is a genuine sense of victimhood. A common refrain: Our soldiers die for the country on the battlefield, but they won’t even let us build a home where we live. Add to this the feeling that Kolkata, prone to administrative high-handedness, is always on the lookout to cheat the “simple hill people”. And, so, there is mass support at the mere mention of Gorkhaland. Not that this is a recent phenomenon. The first time that people in the Darjeeling hills sought separation from Bengal was in 1907. The demand is almost an inheritance of sorts for several generations of Gorkhas now.

The author can be contacted @scribeling.