From: dipakde27@gmail.com   
      
    NEPALI MERCENARY VOTERS IN NORTH BENGAL    
   -	DIPAK DE [HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST; M. PHIL IN HUMAN RIGHTS]    
      
                                India and Nepal share an open border since early   
   period and the Friendship Treaty of 1950 between India and Nepal, confirmed in   
   writing the continuity of open border. Darjeeling district is situated in the   
   east of Nepal and    
   has open border and the first immigration of Nepalese who flocked in to   
   exploit the land of Darjeeling hills in 1840 in presence of Dr. Campbell, the   
   Superintendent of Darjeeling who joined the service in 1839 transferring from   
   the job of British    
   Resident in Nepal, a member of the Indian Medical Service. He was entrusted   
   with the civil, criminal and fiscal administration of the Darjeeling district,   
   besides being Postmaster, Marriage Registrar and Administrator of the Station   
   Funds i.e. the income    
   from the lands in and about the station Darjeeling which had been leased for   
   building purposes. All these duties were discharged by him single-handed;   
   besides these duties he devoted himself with the task of developing   
   Darjeeling, attracting immigrants    
   to cultivate the mountain slopes and stimulating trade and commerce. By the   
   invitation of the British East India Company, the Nepalese from west entered   
   India's territory Darjeeling which attached with Bengal since 1835 [comprising   
   138 square miles] as    
   migrant labourers and cultivators for the development of Darjeeling - attached   
   since 1866 with full geographical area at present. Every encouragement was   
   given to settlers who received grants of forest land and the population of 100   
   persons in 1839 rose    
   to 10,000 persons in 1849. This population increased mainly by the immigrant   
   Nepalese. In the census 1891, the population of Darjeeling district was   
   229,914 persons; the dominant community was the Nepalese which with the   
   strength of 134,000 persons    
   accounts more than half of the population strength from zero population in   
   1839. W.W. Hunter in 1876 wrote in 'A Statistical Account of Bengal] 'The   
   Lepchas are considered to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the hilly portion   
   of the district. At all    
   events they are the first known occupiers of this tract and of the independent   
   Sikkim. The Nepalese, who form 34 per cent of the population of the district,   
   are all immigrants from the state of Nepal to the westward. They are pushing,   
   thriving race and    
   the Deputy Commissioner is of opinion that they will be in time occupying the   
   whole district.'    
      
                            During the British East India Company rule in India   
   up to 1858 and during the British-Government's direct rule in India from 1858   
   up to the commencement of Commencement of India on 26th January, 1950, the   
   immigrant Nepalese were    
   not Indian citizens as revealed from the documents, speeches. Present All   
   India Gorkha League, previous All India Gorkha League of Darjeeling, stated in   
   1943 that one of its aims and objects is - to have connection with the   
   Independent kingdom of Nepal    
   the mother country of the Gurkhas with devotion and loyalty. This League   
   always hides the fact that all Nepalese do not belong to the warrior class/   
   martial race for recruitment as Gurkha soldiers; instead a small section of   
   Nepalese are entitled for    
   selection as Gurkha soldiers by the British colonials. But All India Gurkha   
   League behaved that all Nepalese are entitled for selection as Gurkha   
   soldiers, so this League stated "the mother country of the Gurkhas with   
   devotion and loyalty."  During the    
   British rule in India, the Gurkha and Nepali are interchangeably used and also   
   used before 1980. So read as "the mother country of the Nepalese with the   
   devotion and loyalty." Gurkha League's first Constitution which pledged to   
   protect the political    
   rights of the Nepalese, mentioned 'Nepal as motherland". This Gurkha League's   
   rapid spread in Darjeeling hills and even outside made the Hillmens'   
   Association irrelevant and in due course defunct [in 1946]. Ari Bahadur Gurung   
   was the Nepalese leader of    
   Darjeeling. He demanded citizenship of Nepalese who entered India from Nepal,   
   according to Article 5 of Constitution of India.  He on 23rd November, 1949 in   
   Constituent Assembly, New Delhi said that I would now like to refer to article   
   5 relating to    
   Citizenship. The community to whom I belong consider this of vital importance,   
   and I feel it is my duty to mention here that one-third of the total   
   population of Gurkhas have come and settled down in India. According to census   
   figures, out of one crore,    
   about 67.5 lakhs are in Nepal and the rest have settled down in India and the   
   Gurkhas remaining here are most of them descendants of those soldiers who   
   fought in many battles in India. We claim the same right of citizenship under   
   article 5, provided we    
   fulfil all the obligations laid down therein.     
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)