“SIKKIM FOR SIKKIMESE: Distinct Identity Within The Union”

By Jigme N. Kazi

“We shall fight in the Assembly. We shall fight in the Parliament. We shall fight in the Court and in the Press. If need be, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we shall fight. We shall never surrender.”

                                          -   Jigme N. Kazi, Sikkim Observer, January 1989

For well over thirty years since the controversial merger of the former kingdom with the Indian Union in 1975, the Sikkimese people have been constantly demanding restoration of their political rights and preservation of their distinct identity within the Union and within the framework of the Constitution of India. They have adopted peaceful, non-violent and democratic means to achieve their objectives. And yet New Delhi has remained silent and unresponsive.

 “SIKKIM FOR SIKKIMESE: Distinct Identity Within The Union” is a record of Jigme N. Kazi’s own contribution in ventilating and recording the hopes and aspirations of the Sikkimese people – Lepchas, Bhutias, Nepalese - and  members of the other communities, who have been living in Sikkim for generations. The book is a collection of his work published in various publications, including the Sikkim Observer, which he edits, during his twenty five years as a journalist (1983-2008)

Beginning from 1983, Jigme N. Kazi has contributed to several local, regional and national newspapers and journals – The Nation, Eastern Express, The Telegraphs, The Statesman, Sunday, North-East Sun, North East Daily, Caravan (now Alive), The Independent (Kathmandu), Talk Sikkim and his own publications: Spotlight on Sikkim, Sikkim Observer, Bhoomiputra, Himalayan Guardian, Hill People and Common Cause. Kazi was the Sikkim Correspondent of The Telegraph, The Statesman, United News of India (UNI) and The Independent.

Jigme N. Kazi is also the author of Inside Sikkim: Against the Tide, published in 1993 and The Lone Warrior: Exiled In My Homeland, published in 2014.