-Dr. Sonam B Wangyal

In the 1864-65 Anglo-Bhutan War the British stretched the Bhutanese troops by opening up multiple fronts along the length of the Bhutan border. However, unlike the Sikkim operation where the Rangeet was bridged, the Tista was not spanned and the battle was fought a good distance away from today’s Kalimpong town. The main motive for the British aggression was to cut off the Bhutanese from all the passes leading to the Indian plains. The war was fought between two uneven sides and despite a bit of saber rattling and some resistance the Bhutanese were no match against the more disciplined, better equipped and numerically stronger British forces. The westernmost flank traced the route through Ambiok, Algarah and thence to Daling fort. Following the expected victory the entire ‘Athara Duar’ or the eighteen passes between Assam and Bengal (‘Dwar/Duar’:Sanskrit - door, opening, pass) became British possession, and since the area west of Ambiok-Algarah-Daling was cut off from the Bhutanese it was also incorporated into the British gains. Kalimpong proper and its surrounding areas therefore came to British possession not because the British fought for them – it was just a bonus acquisition.

Quite naturally the British did not display any calculated concern to a cheaply obtained land and, regardless of the similarity of the population and terrain to that of Darjeeling, the wrested area was attached to the Western Duars as the Dalingkote Sub-Division. Kalimpong was left as it was and even the Mondals who collected the poll taxes for the Bhutanese were allowed to continue except that they would be doing so for the British thenceforth.

In the following year the Sub-Division of Dalingkote was transferred to Darjeeling and the designation ‘Sub-Division’ removed. The newly formed district was divided into (a) the Headquarters Sub-Division (960 square miles) consisting of all the hill areas on both sides of the Tista and (b) the Terai Sub-Division that included the foothills. Later (1891) Kurseong became the headquarters of a Sub-Division by the same name and in 1907 Siliguri Sub-Division was carved out, but Kalimpong remained as an unsolicited attachment to the District Headquarters. The apathy to this add-on territory was so absolute that for the entire area only two officers were appointed: a manager for the Khas Mahal lands and a Police Inspector. When Kurseong Sub-Division was created it had a population of 44,649 and in 1901 Kalimpong’s population was very close to that but the status of a Sub-Division still remained a distant dream. By 1911 the population had soared to 55,653 and yet Kalimpong was not made a Sub-Division and the honour was to eventually arrive only in 1916 when the population rose well beyond 70,000: it had taken all of 47 years for area to become a Sub-Division. Questions that logically and instantly arise are, why the apathy and why the delay in creating the Sub-Division.

The answer probably lies in something that Kalimpong could do nothing about: it was after all just a ‘bonus land’.