ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historical evolution of the demand for a separate state in Darjeeling and focuses on the ways in which parties demanding Gorkhaland construct it as a strategic imaginative geography in order to legitimise their demand. It deals with the specific form of the imaginative geography of Gorkhaland is mirroring what has been described as a de-territorialized subjectivity of the Indian Nepalis and their attempt to get full recognition as Indian citizens through the creation of a separate state. It provides a framework for mobilisation. The chapter explores the relation between the diasporic society and territory. It introduces the concept of regionalisation and the importance of imaginative geographies as strategies in the conflict-laden process. The demand for Gorkhaland is founded on the sentiments of a de-territorialised community, which is made to believe that the creation of a separate state was the only way to re-territorialise the Gorkhas.
