Martial drill for Bimal Gurung’s army

On a large tract of arid land, strewn with boulders and rocks, hundreds of young men and women stand in formation, practising kicks, punches and knee-strikes. Hundreds more are in line to sign up.

This patch of land in the upper Phagu valley near Gorubathan is the training ground of Bimal Gurung’s army of volunteers’ the so-called Gorkhaland Personnel of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Most of them are from very poor families, drawn here by Gurung’s promise of a Rs 2,000 monthly stipend and believing desperately in the dream that he has shown them that Gorkhaland is the magic solution to their poverty and all their problems.

Twenty-two-year-old Kiran Rai is one of them. A Class X dropout, who was idling away at home, suddenly found his calling in the Gorkhaland cry. He follows a punishing schedule from dawn to darkness. Kiran has other dreams as well a job, a little financial stability. And, he firmly believes his dreams will come true only after the formation of Gorkhaland. MORE...