On Nepali New Year’s Day, Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), directed all elected representatives in the hills to ensure that Nepali was used in signboards.

The Darjeeling hills celebrated Nepali year 2082 Bikram Sambat (B.S) on Monday with numerous events.

Thapa, while attending an event at Bijanbari on Monday, was critical of the way the day was being celebrated.

“Nepali New Year’s Day is being celebrated in many places but I realised that it is not a spontaneous celebration like the English New Year. Our new year celebration is being conducted by a committee that invites various organisations to come and celebrate the day,” said Thapa.

Issues like identity and language are the crux of hill politics.

“It is only during the election period that people talk about being jati premi (community loyalist) and jati birodi (working against the community),” said Thapa.

Thapa’s party, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), is in control of the GTA, panchayat bodies and also the municipalities of Darjeeling, Kurseong
and Kalimpong.

“The GTA had issued a notification to all panchayat bodies and municipalities to ensure that Nepali is used in signages in business and government establishments. I don’t think the leaders have taken this directive seriously,” said Thapa.

Since last year, the GTA has been issuing notifications both in Nepali and English. This was after the Sikkim government issued a notification that all official notices and gazettes would be published in both languages.

“I request all elected leaders to ensure that the signages are put up in Nepali within a month. I have nothing against the use of other languages, too, (along with Nepali). However, we have to use the Nepali language as this is the homeland of Gorkhas,” said Thapa.

Nepali was recognised in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 1992.

During the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkhaland agitation from 2007, the leader had also urged the hill people to wear traditional dress for a certain period of time. Gurung had also directed all business establishments to use the word “Gorkhaland” on signage boards, while vehicles were asked to replace WB in number plates with GL (to signify Gorkhaland).

Once Gurung headed the GTA from 2012 onwards, he also initiated moves to implement Nepali in official correspondence.

However, all initiatives fizzled out in no time.

Apart from Darjeeling, the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has also urged traders to use Bengali on their signboards, along with any other languages.

The SMC wanted the initiative to be implemented from Bengali New Year’s Day, which falls on Tuesday. “The SMC has informally told the traders that they should complete putting up the signages by the end of this month,” said a source.