What tourists missed during the unrest: A view of the Kanchenjungha from Darjeeling

1905: Hill Men Association demands separate administrative set-up for Darjeeling hills

The first phase of the agitation

April 5, 1980: Subash Ghisingh forms the GNLF, coins the word “Gorkhaland” and demands a separate state

May 11,1986: Nima Theeng, killed in police firing in Panighata, the first death in a GNLF agitation

Demand for Gorkhaland on walls in the eighties

May 25, 1986: Five persons die in police firing in Kurseong

July 27, 1986: 13 killed in police firing in Kalimpong

1986-1988: The GNLF called a 40-day bandh during this period. Shutdowns then were anywhere between 48 hours and 108 hours. At the peak of the agitation, nearly 50 companies of central forces — the CRPF and the BSF — were deployed across the hills

Despite spiralling protests in 1986, Edmund Hillary came to Darjeeling to pay tribute to Tenzing Norgay, who died on May 9 that year

August 22, 1988: The Centre, state and the GNLF sign an agreement in Calcutta to form the DGHC

Sixth schedule: a new chapter

February 8, 2001: In Delhi, Ghisingh raises the demand to include the hills in the Sixth Schedule, which would grant special status to the region

February 10, 2001: Ghisingh attacked at Saath Ghoomti near Kurseong

January 1, 2005: Ghisingh for the first time tells a public meeting that the DGHC is a “garage” and the Sixth Schedule status is the next step forward

DIG R.K. Handa, who was shot at and grievously injured at Manebhanjan. An earlier version of the caption had said DIG Handa was in charge when 13 people were killed in the firing on July 27, 1986. He had actually taken charge four months after the firing. Besides, he was shot at in the Manebhanjan area, not Sukhiapokhri as was mentioned. The officer was shot on the shoulder, not the waist, and the bullet had missed his spinal cord by a whisker. We apologise for the mistakes.

March 21, 2005: All elected councillors of the DGHC resign, Ghisingh becomes “sole caretaker of the DGHC”. The day marks the end of an elected body in charge of the DGHC

December 6, 2005: Ghisingh, Union home secretary V.K. Duggal and Bengal chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb sign the “memorandum of settlement” in New Delhi to confer Sixth Schedule status

The rise of Bimal Gurung

September 23, 2007: Prashant Tamang, a singer from Darjeeling, wins a reality show. Bimal Gurung, the man behind mobilising support for Prashant, cashes in on the anti-Ghisingh sentiment across the hills during the campaign to help the singer win the contest. The GNLF chief had refused to publicly back Prashant

A jawan on a deserted Darjeeling road during a 108-hour bandh

October 1, 2007: Gurung speaks against Sixth Schedule for the first time, says “nothing short of Gorkhaland” will do

October 4, 2007: GNLF expels Gurung for “anti-party activities”

October 7, 2007: Gurung floats Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling

November 15, 2007: Ghisingh celebrates the inclusion of the Sixth Schedule bill in the list of business of the winter session of Parliament.

Prashant Tamang when he visited Darjeeling during the reality show

End of Ghisingh’s 20-year rule

November 30, 2007: The Sixth Schedule Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2007, and the Constitutional (107th Amendment) Bill, 2007, introduced in Parliament by then Union home minister Shivraj Patil. The bill is immediately referred to the standing committee on home affairs

December 3, 2007: Morcha calls a four-day general strike to protest the demand for Sixth Schedule status

Bimal Gurung announces the formation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha

February 18, 2008: Hundreds of Morcha supporters assemble at strategic points across the hills to stop Ghisingh from entering the region on his return from Delhi. Ghisingh stays at Pintail Village

February 20, 2008: The state government refuses to extend the tenure of Ghisingh as “caretaker” administrator beyond March 24, 2008. Ghisingh rushes to Calcutta to meet then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

February 27, 2008: Bhattacharjee invites Bimal Gurung for talks to Writers’ for the first time even as the Morcha intensifies its hunger strike and general shutdown

February 28, 2008: The standing committee on home affairs advises the government to go ahead with the implementation of the Sixth Schedule bill with “caution”. Bill is shelved after this

March 10, 2008: Ghisingh resigns as caretaker administrator of the DGHC “on the request of the chief minister”. This marks the end of his 20-year rule

March 16, 2008: Ghisingh returns to Darjeeling

A vehicle set afire after the assassination attempt on Ghisingh

Morcha agitation intensifies

April 1, 2008: Morcha calls for a boycott on payment of taxes to the state government

April 9, 2008: Police lathicharge on ex-serviceman rally at Darjeeling More in Siliguri. Morcha calls a strike in the hills

June 26, 2008: Gurung says he is 101 per cent confident that Gorkhaland can be achieved by March 10, 2010

July 7, 2008: Morcha asks hill people to replace “WB” with “GL” on vehicle number plates. Drive fizzles out after vehicles with “GL” on number plates are attacked in the plains and seized by police

An ex-serviceman being taken away by police during the rally in Siliguri

July 25, 2008: Pramila Sharma, a Morcha activist, is killed by a bullet allegedly fired from the house of GNLF leader Deepak Gurung. Houses of GNLF leaders are ransacked and burnt across the hills. Ghisingh leaves the hills the next day, making Jalpaiguri his new address

September 8, 2008: The Centre invites the Morcha and the Bengal government for the first time in the series of 11 tripartite meetings that will follow

October 7, 2008: Morcha makes it mandatory for hill people to wear traditional dresses during the month-long tourist season

Bengal numberplates being taken off to be replaced with “GL”

October 17, 2008: It asks hill shopkeepers to write “Gorkhaland” on shops signboards. Subsequently, “West Bengal” is replaced with “Gorkhaland” on boards of government offices

Foray in the Dooars

January 16, 2009: Clashes break out in the Dooars between pro- and anti-Gorkhaland supporters as Gurung is stopped, along with over 10,000 supporters, while trying to enter the region. Over 100 people injured. CRPF deployed

House of GNLF leader Deepak Gurung set on fire

February 7, 2009: Two die in Dooars clashes

November 7, 2009: Ban on sale of liquor in the hills. Ban lifted on January 31, 2010

Settlement minus Statehood

January 28, 2010: The Telegraph first reports on the Morcha’s “secret” letter to the Centre agreeing to an interim set-up till March 31, 2011

March 15, 2010: The Morcha reveals proposals of the Centre’s Gorkhaland Autonomous Authority

Morcha on the backfoot

Tribals demonstrate against the Morcha in the Dooars

May 21, 2010: Madan Tamang, president of the ABGL and a critic of the interim set-up, hacked to death allegedly by Morcha supporters

May 30, 2010: Gurung drops the idea of interim set-up and re-christens the state that the Morcha had been demanding as Gorkha-Adivasi Pradesh to woo tribals. Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad rejects proposal

August 15, 2010: Nickole Tamang, a Morcha leader, arrested for his alleged involvement in the Madan Tamang murder case

August 22, 2010: Nickole escapes from CID camp at Pintail Village, Morcha alleges foul play

“West Bengal” replaced with “Gorkhaland” on a signboard in a government office

February 8, 2011: Three Morcha members shot dead in police firing at Sibchu when Gurung attempts to march to the Dooars

Trinamul bonhomie and the settlement

September 26, 2010: Mamata Banerjee visits Darjeeling for the first time since 1999 and announces a slew of development projects as railway minister. Morcha extends warm welcome

March 31, 2011: Morcha extends unconditional support to the Trinamul-Congress alliance across the Dooars and Terai for the Assembly elections

Madan Tamang after he was hacked at Clubside motor stand

May 13, 2011: Morcha candidates win the three hill seats

May 16,

2011: Ghisingh, who had come up to the hills on April 8, leaves the region after alleged GNLF supporters kill a Morcha supporter at Sonada

June 7, 2011: Mamata and Morcha hold first meeting at Writers’

Mamata on a train in Darjeeling on September 27, 2010

July 8, 2011: Bengal government and Morcha agree on the name of the new body, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration

July 15: Mamata announces that the memorandum of agreement between the Centre, the state and the Morcha to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration will be signed on July 18 at Pintail Village.