Sub-regional movement is a sequence of regional movement in present India. Immediately after independence regional movements came to the surface. The various linguistic communities demanded reorganization of states on the basis of language. Since the reorganization of states, primarily on linguistic consideration, most of the states have pursued a policy of cultural homogenization and unilingualism. As a result of these policies of the States the ethnic minorities face ever increasing difficulties in preserving their language and cultural identity. In order to preserve their identity the ethnic minorities at first, launched a movement for safeguarding their culture and language, and then for political autonomy.
Since the sixties of the last century there has been a spurt of sub-regional movements. These movements may be classified as territorial-based and ethnic-based movements. The present study focuses on ethnic-based movements. Two areas: one is Darjeeling in West Bengal and the other is Kokrajhar in Assam, have been selected for specific and in-depth study. For, the movement of the Nepalese for Gorkhaland and the movement of the Bodos for Bodoland are the typical examples of sub-regionalism. The Bodos in Assam and the Nepalese in West Bengal are provided with autonomous powers within the jurisdiction of state governments.
The present study is grounded on the theory of ethnicity and based on the extensive field survey in Darjeeling district and several areas of Assam including Kokrajhar district. During field work I met people of various walks of life including leaders of the movements.
They helped me in many ways. I remember with gratitude and deep sorrow the services of late Swamla Basumatari, the then President of the ABSU. He was murdered at his residence by the extremists. In his death I lost a good friend of mine. Mr. Subhas Ghisingh was kind enough to afford his valuable time for a discussion on the various problems relating to DGHC. His principal Secretary gave me a lot of materials relating to the Gorkhaland movement which I attempted to incorporate in my report. Shri Jyotiprosad Chattopadhya M. A. as a Junior Research Fellow, had helped me in collecting valuable materials from different sources. I am grateful to all of them. I owe to Messers KP Bagchi & Company for publishing the book in time.
The author expresses his deep sense of gratitude to Bhawani-Prosad Chattopadhya for editing the entire manuscript and for making valuable suggestions. He is also grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for its financial support.
At the end of the report I have given some suggestions relating to the management of the inter-ethnic conflicts arising out of the sub-regional movements. The author will be gratified if policy makers give due attention to these prescriptions.
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