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Lepchas seek ‘status' clarity

KOLKATA: Members of the Lepcha community, an indigenous tribe of the Darjeeling hills, went on an indefinite hunger strike here on Wednesday demanding clarity from the State and Central governments on their “status” as a community.

The Lepchas are the indigenous tribals of the region that was originally a part of territory governed by the ruler of Sikkim. The region was gifted to the East India Company in 1835.

“According to a 2004 notification by the Anthropological Survey of India, Lepchas were classified as tribals of Sikkimese origin. Since then, when we are asked to produce community certificates while applying for enrolment in para-military forces, the certificates issued to us state that we are of Sikkimese origin and are rejected by the authorities concerned,” said B. Lepcha, convenor of the dharna committee.

Common ancestry

The Lepchas of Sikkim and Darjeeling have a common ancestry but the categorisation marginalises the rights of the Lepcha community in the politically volatile situation of Darjeeling, he added.

Questions related to the “status” of the Lepcha community in the Darjeeling hills are being increasingly voiced in a region where ethnic identities often dominate public discourse.

Claiming that they never had problems in being recruited into the military and para-military services before the notification, Mr. Lepcha said the policies of the Central and State governments were creating “artificial differences among the communities of the region”.

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