ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a distinction between economic or financial regionalism on the one hand and regionalism or sub-regionalism based on cultural markers on the other. Most work on regionalism has emphasized the latter over the former. Ethnic or cultural regionalism has often expressed itself in antagonistic terms to that of the mainstream, fuelled commonly by the sense of long term deprivation, neglect, and unfavorable redistribution of resources. Commonly, regionalism is about internal self-determination, usually taking the form of demands of statehood or substantive autonomy. The issue of Bengali identity is a deeply complex phenomenon that has mediated the formation of the politics of regionalism in the state in a considerable way. The chapter argues that there is no strong evidence of any politics of recognition emerging from within the contours of Left politics in West Bengal. The Left Front government categorically rejected the demand for Gorkhaland and offered substantive regional autonomy within the boundaries of the state.
