Neighbourhood Bully: This is the most common description about India that I keep hearing during private conversations, ever since insurgency reared its ugly head in Nepal and whenever there is a talk of foreign mediation/influence/exertion. India is like a shark waiting to gobble up smaller fishes; India harbours grandiose ambition which extends far beyond its borders. This perception about India as a regional bully is not restricted to Nepal. The disease has spread all over South Asia and most nations in this part of the hemisphere believe India is an ambitious, geo-political power who is ever on the lookout to play a larger than needed role in other nation’s internal affairs.

http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2009/12/19/Metro/ACE-DAY-2009/3212/

This film traces the history of the Gorkhas in North Bengal. Focusing on their deprivation since the colonial times, the film brings to light how the demand for Gorkhaland transcends the demand for ‘development’ and develops into a movement for the right to identity of the Gorkhas. It is a quest for the Gorkhas to curve out a state to call their own, their motherland. Through this movement the people of the hills send a clear message, they are unique enough to demand a state of their own, their language, culture, clothes, food habits and even looks are entirely different. By no means are they Bengali and all of this reinforces their demand of separation from Bengal.

Indians Insult Gurkhas on TV  Program “Idol.”

 

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha

 

(Gorkha People’s Liberation Front)

image provided by Chrystian Kretowicz, 27 June 2008

Subhas Ghising is no longer synonymous with Gorkhaland. Two decades ago he and his Gorkha National Liberation Front began the struggle for their own state in the Darjeeling area, only abandoning it after the deal was struck with the West Bengal and Indian governments creating slightly autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council of which Ghising became a chairman. (Resigned in March 2008 as being irrelevant). Ghising’s flag is no longer predominant in Gorkhaland, since from October 2007 a new movement – Gorkha Janamukti Morcha – gained support of the vast majority of West Bengal Gorkhas. It is led by the former lieutenant of Ghising, Bimal Gurung, who is demanding nothing less then a full statethood within India for Gorkhaland (three districts of West Bengal around Darjeeling). GJM has a backing of, influential there, Communist Party of India-Revolutionary Marxist against the government of West Bengal (run by the Communist Party of India-Marxists) which is vehemently opposed to the idea of statehood for Gorkhaland. The Indian government suppreses the  that idea as the precedent could open the floodgates of the demands for dozens of other ethnic autonomous states in otherwise patchwork of fragile nation states, who could potentially be Independent nations and members of the United Nations. The most recent surge in demands for statehood is attributed to the insulting comments on Indian national television addressed at the Gorkha, who won the “Idol” type of the singing competition – Prachanda Tawang. To many Gorkhas it was the last straw which pushed them to strongly demand self-rule in their homeland.

The flag of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, widely waved across Gorkhaland, is:
Green at the top engraved at the left with Sun. White at the middle engraved at the left with Himalaya & Golden Yellow at the bottom engraved at the left with two crossed Khukuries, all three strips running parallel and equal in size.

Symbolic meaning and significance of the flag:
The green at the top symbolize the prosperity with knowledge of brightness. The white symbolizes peace and purity as Himalaya, and the golden yellow symbolizes the spirituality and pride of Khukuri.”

The flag submitted here is with the Latin script. Most flags visible on the multitude of photograph on the web are inscribed with the name of the party in the Nepali script, and some without any writing on them, as described above. The last ones, I presume, could be proposed flags for the (would-be or not) State of Gorkhaland.

Gurkhas are cheap mercenary cannon fodder for British & Indian Armies

The British have use them as cannon fodder. The Indian Army uses them as cannon fodder. The Gorkhas are the most ecploited people on earth. Their area is deliberately left undeveloped, so that ther no other means of livelihood for them, except serve as mercenary soldiers in th Indian and British Army. The are kept backward and illiterate. they are subtly brainwashwashed by propaganda, that they are a martial race. Truly, a scientigic fallacy and a type of racism to exclude people from getting the benefits of the 21st Century. 

Traditionally, Gurkha recruits come from rural areas and are illiterate. Nowadays, Gurkhas have realized that their ticket to freedom from exploitation by both the Indian and British armies is by being educated. They are acquiring  high school certificates that include English proficiency and math skills.

Many attend cram schools, some of which over-train candidates, extract bribes and coach everyone to mouth the same answers.

Brainwashing and exploitation by Britain and India

“They’ll all come in saying ‘I want to be a Gurkha because I want to die for Britain,’ ” Bevin said. “It’s so boring you want to pull your hair out.” How many nationals of one nation make a ridiculous but “drilled in brain,” statement like.

Gurkhas homeland is occupied by India, parts of it are annexed by Nepal.

Others will say they want to join as part of a family tradition, even though no relative was ever a Gurkha soldier.

Although the pull is still strong, some military analysts and planners are questioning the Gurkhas’ future.

India and Britain use the Gurkhas, when needed, then discard them to the ranks of poor and unemployed

Britain will take just 126 this year and has seen 400 Gurkhas lose their jobs, reducing to 3,200 the number in active service, a tiny fraction of the 200,000 during World War II.

Here is a racist comment from the author of,”The Gurkhas: Special Force.” Chris Bellamy

“If you took them down much further, you’d risk ruining the mix,” said Chris Bellamy, a military historian and author of “The Gurkhas: Special Force.”

Gurkhas are poorly paid in India,but they are expected to die for India during War

Recently, British officers and Gurkha veterans groups have emphasized the extent to which Britain and India contribute to Nepal’s economy — up to 25%, by some accounts — through pensions and funding for Gurkha hospitals, schools in Gurkha communities and other welfare programs. (India employs more Gurkhas than Britain, although they’re not as well paid.)

“The government would have to think pretty long about turning that down,” Mills said.

But Moaist and communists are making inroads and winning Gurkhas hearts and minds.  Gurkhas are begining to realize that they are being exploited by being kept poor and uneducated, so they can only do jobs as mercenaries in the Indian or British Armies.

Chandra Prakash Gajurel, a politburo member with the Unified Communist Party of Nepal, says working for foreigners in effect makes Gurkhas mercenaries.

“Yes, Nepal has unemployment, but joining someone else’s army isn’t a good solution,” he said. “And, no, the Communist Party does not envy Gurkhas.”

Indian government spends £700,000 to buy letters which ‘prove national hero Gandhi was gay’

• According to a new biography by Joseph Lelyveld, the love of Mahatma Gandhi’s life was a German-Jewish bodybuilder named Hermann Kallenbach. “Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom,” Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach. “The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed.”
• Letters between Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach are said to shed light on their ‘loving relationship’
• They are among archive of documents which cover Gandhi’s time in South Africa, his return to India and his contentious relationship with his family
• Papers were due to have been auctioned at Sotheby’s in London this week

A year after a controversial biography of Mahatma Gandhi claimed he was bisexual and left his wife to live with a German-Jewish bodybuilder, the Indian government has bought a collection of letters between the two men days before they were to be auctioned.

India paid around £700,000 (60million rupees) for the papers, which cover Gandhi’s time in South Africa, his return to India and his contentious relationship with his family.

The auction was to be held at Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday but was called off at the last minute.

THE LOVERS

Lovers? Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach sit either side of a female companion. The Indian government has bought a collection of letters between the two men days before they were to be auctioned

The documents will now be placed with the National Archives of India in New Delhi.

They previously belonged to relatives of Hermann Kallenbach, a German-born Jewish architect who met Gandhi in South Africa in 1904 and was impressed by his ideas.

Last year, a Gandhi biography by author Joseph Lelyveld called Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India detailed the extent of his relationship with Kallenbach.

It claimed that the leader of the Indian independence movement was deeply in love with Kallenbach.

Mr Lelyveld denied that his book said Gandhi was bisexual. But Gandhi’s home state of Gujarat banned it as an ‘insult’ to the father of the nation.

GANDHI’S LETTERS TO KELLENBACH

Most of the correspondence, which spans five decades from 1905 to 1945, is from family, friends and followers of Gandhi, but there are also 13 letters written by him to Kallenbach.

They reference Gandhi’s early political campaigns and the illness of his wife Kasturba.

He wrote in one letter: ‘I no longer want to be angry with her so she is sweet… She had a few grapes today but she is suffering again. It seems to be me she is gradually sinking.’

In another, written before his return to India from South Africa, Gandhi wrote: ‘I do all my writing squatting on the ground and eat invariably with my fingers. I don’t want to look awkward in India.’

Indian historian Ramchandra Guha discovered the letters at the home of Kallenbach’s grand-niece, Isa Sarid.

A INDIAN-ISRAELI CONNECTION IS INEVITABLE -GANDHI LITERALLY LAID ITS FOUNDATION

Almost auctioned: The documents previously belonged to relatives of Kallenbach, a German-born Jewish architect who met Gandhi in South Africa in 1904 and was impressed by his ideas

Gandhi and Kallenbach became constant companions after they met in Johannesburg in 1904.

Among the most illuminating of the documents are dozens of letters written by Gandhi’s sons which provide details of his life in India, particularly in the period immediately after his return, when he lived in relative obscurity.

‘Father is becoming more and more awful,’ read one incomplete letter probably written by Harilal, his eldest son.

‘It would not be strange if a time may come one of these days when either those who are living with Father might have to go or he might leave us all not being able to stand our life.’

India has in the past complained bitterly about private auctions of Gandhi’s belongings, saying they insulted the memory of a man who rejected material wealth.

GANDHI WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEE INDIA SPEND 60 MILLION RUPEES ON ALLEVIATION OF POVERTY INSTEAD OF HIDING THE SKELETONS IN HIS CLOSET

A senior official at the ministry of culture in New Delhi said: ‘These papers are of huge importance to India to carry out research on the Gandhian view on various things, that is why we decided to purchase them.’

Sotheby’s had put a pre-sale estimate of between £500,000 and £700,000 on the collection.

But the sale was pulled after Indian authorities agreed to purchase the entire archive for around £700,000 (60million rupees).

Sotheby’s said in a statement: ‘The Gandhi-Kallenbach archive… has been sold in a private transaction to the Indian government.’

Mr Lelyvel’s book caused much controversy when it was published last year.

Gandhi and Kallenbach (middle row, centre) pose for a picture at Tolstoy Farm, South Africa in 1910. They became constant companions after they met in Johannesburg in 1904

Gandhi (left) and Kallenbach lived together for two years in a house in South Africa.

Joseph Lelyveld’s controversial biography Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India (right) was published last year

GANDHI A CAPTIVE SOUL

According to the book, Gandhi allegedly told Kallenbach: ‘How completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance.’

Kallenbach was born in Germany but emigrated to South Africa where he became a wealthy architect.

Gandhi was working there and Kallenbach became one of his closest disciples.

The pair lived together for two years in a house Kallenbach built in South Africa and pledged to give one another ‘more love, and yet more love… such love as they hope the world has not yet seen’.

At the age of 13 Gandhi had been married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji, but after four children together they split in 1908 so he could be with Kallenbach, the book says.

At one point he wrote to the German: ‘Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom. The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed.’

VASELINE, COTTON WOOL, AND A DEEP LONGING FOR THE LOWER HO– — USE

Although it is not clear why, Gandhi wrote that vaseline and cotton wool were a ‘constant reminder’ of Kallenbach.

He nicknamed himself ‘Upper House’ and his lover ‘Lower House’ and he vowed to make Kallenbach promise not to ‘look lustfully upon any woman’.

SEX WITH WOMEN WAS ABHORRENT TO GANDHI

‘I cannot imagine a thing as ugly as the intercourse of men and women,’ he later told him.

They were separated in 1914 when Gandhi went back to India – Kallenbach was not allowed into India because of the First World War, after which they stayed in touch by letter.

GANDHI’S POOR WIFE GETS THE SHORT END OF THE STICK

As late as 1933 he wrote a letter telling of his unending desire and branding his ex-wife ‘the most venomous woman I have met’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172967/Indian-government-spends-700-000-buy-letters-prove-national-hero-Gandhi-gay.html#ixzz20bHDEubq

By Graham Smith

PUBLISHED:03:25 EST, 13 July 2012 | UPDATED:03:26 EST, 13 July 2012