Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League ( ABGL) (also called All India Gorkha League (AIGL/IGL)) is a political party working amongst the Nepali-speaking

Gorkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with the endonym Gorkhali ( Nepali: गोर्खाली ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of North India. The Gurkha units consist of Nepali and ...

population in Darjeeling District and

Kalimpong District Kalimpong district is a List of districts in India, district in the state of West Bengal, India. In 2017, it was carved out as a separate district to become the 21st district of West Bengal. The district is headquartered at Kalimpong, which g ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The party was founded in 1943 by Damber Singh Gurung. ABGL is currently part of an alliance of BJP, GNLF, CPRM and other parties with Pratap Khati as its convenor. ABGL stands for peaceful democracy in the Darjeeling hills. It advocates for a full-fledged state of

Gorkhaland The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is a semi-autonomous council for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal state in India. The GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 198 ...

. Ahead of the 1999 DGHC elections, ABGL was part of the United Front, an alliance consisting of

Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) is a political party based in the Darjeeling District and Kalimpong District of the Indian state of West Bengal. CPRM was formed in 1996 by Communist Party of India (Marxist) dissidents (a major ...

, ABGL,

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, Bharatiya Gorkha Janashakti,

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

, Bharatiya Nepali Bir Gorkha and Sikkim Rashtriya Mukti Morcha. ABGL was later a part of the People's Democratic Front (PDF), a six-party alliance led by CPRM and including

(Hills),

Gorkha National Liberation Front (C.K. Pradhan) Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of the ...

, ABGL,

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and Gorkha Democratic Front (a party that was formed by Madan Tamang before his return to ABGL). PDF stood for Gorkha autonomy but was opposed to the

Gorkha National Liberation Front Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of t ...

(GNLF) led by Subhash Ghisingh. On 21 May 2010, ABGL president

Madan Tamang Madan Tamang was an Indian politician and the president of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), a moderate faction of the Gorkhaland movement. Opposed to violent methods for the process, he stood for a negotiated settlement to the Gorkhaland d ...

was stabbed to death (allegedly by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supporters) in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

, which led to a spontaneous shutdown in the three Darjeeling hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling,

Kalimpong Kalimpong is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The region comes under Gorkhaland Territo ...

and

Kurseong Kurseong (, ) is a town and a municipality in Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Kurseong subdivision. Located at an altitude of , Kurseong is from Darjeeling and has a pleasant climate throu ...

. Subsequently his wife Bharati Tamang was elected as the ABGL president. ABGL contested the West Bengal legislative assembly elections held on 18 April 2011 from three constituencies in the Darjeeling hills. The three candidates Bharati Tamang from

, Tribhuwan Rai from

and Shiva Kumar Pradhan from

all lost the elections. Due to internal fights, ABGL broke up into three factions, headed by Bharati Tamang, Pratap Khati and Laxman Pradhan, respectively. After the merger of the factions of Pratap Khati and Laxman Pradhan and the dissolution of the Bharati Tamang faction, only one ABGL headed by Pratap Khati exists today. The flag of the ABGL consists of two equal horizontal stripes. The upper is light green and has an image of a white lotus; the lower is red with two crossed traditional Gorkha knives, called Kurkuri.

References

{{Reflist Politics of Gorkhaland Political parties in West Bengal Indian Hindu political parties Political parties established in 1943 Politics of Darjeeling district 1943 establishments in India