Originally published November 27, 2023, by Revolve Media.
My interaction with this language of rivers began in 2007 with my own indigenous Lepcha community while I was in Delhi. To protest the hydropower development in Dzongu, Lepchas from this district in North Sikkim had arrived in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi with Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) banners saying “Save Holy Land of Lepchas.”
Lepchas from West Bengal supported the movement to save the last remaining Holy Land of the Lepchas. The activism further down the Teesta River fizzled out quite quickly due to socio-political reasons; the non-Lepcha population felt that it was just a ‘Lepcha thing’ and few supported the movement through the lens of environmental justice.
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