LEST WE FORGET: Ram
Chandra Poudyal
We need to free Poudyal
of the desh bechua tag
History
sometimes leaves behind its distortions and it is the writer’s job to correct
it. One of such misconceptions that has emerged out of the merger era is that
amongst those who ‘sold Sikkim’ was Ram Chandra Poudyal, then a fiery Youth
Congress leader and one of the key players in the political upheaval in Sikkim
in the early seventies that saw the downfall of the Chogyal, the end of the
Namgyal Dynasty – which ruled Sikkim for well over 300 years – and Sikkim’s
merger with India in 1975.
Whenever people talk of this period
Poudyal’s name is dragged along with the battisey chor (32 thieves
(MLAs) in the Assembly), who are often accused of having sold Sikkim. In fact,
only last week Poudyal nearly had a fist fight with a young politician who
accused him for being responsible for the huge influx in Sikkim that the merger
produced.
Throughout their political career local
politicians, like Poudyal, who played a key role during the merger era in early
’70s, often faced bitter experiences and accusations that they had sold their
country to an outside party for their political and personal gains. It is
because of this that whenever the expression ‘desh bechua’ (sellers of
the country) is mentioned in public speeches or in private conversations those,
like Poudyal, who sided or became part of the L.D. Kazi-led Congress Government
in the seventies (1974-1979), have been forced to live with a certain amount of
guilt even if some of them were not directly responsible for the merger.
Are they guilty of being labelled as desh
bechuas? Or more importantly, was
R.C. Poudyal one of the desh bechuas? Let us look back to this era and
see what really took place and judge for ourselves if men like Poudyal should
be released from the burden of guilt that history has placed on them.
The outcome of the elections of the Sikkim
Council in early 1973, when the pro-Sikkim, pro-Chogyal party, Sikkim National
Party (SNP), won majority of the seats, led to a mass agitation in Sikkim under
the leadership of L.D. Kazi and Krishna Chandra Pradhan of the Sikkim National
Congress (SNC) and Sikkim Janata Congress (SJC) respectively. The leaders of
the two parties, which lost the polls, alleged that the polls were rigged.
It was during this crucial period that
Poudyal, an impetuous Youth Congress leader who was not even 30 when he, along
with K.N. Upreti, staged a hunger strike at the Palace lawn in the capital on
March 28, 1973. They demanded amongst other things greater democratization of
the political system, a written constitution, fundamental rights and ‘one man,
one vote.’ For the Indian-backed agitation led by leaders like Kazi, Pradhan
and N. B. Khatiwada the hunger strike was a welcome development. It added fuel to
the fire and gradually the agitation took the shape of a mass movement, which
finally led to the signing of the historic Tripartite Agreement in Gangtok on
May 8, 1973.
The signing of this historic pact between
the Chogyal, the Government of India and leaders of three major political
parties (SNP, SNC and SJC) led to the holding of another elections to the
32-member Sikkim Assembly in mid-April 1974. The polls were held on the basis
of the 1973 Agreement, which gave greater political rights to the majority
Nepalese with the fulfilment of the ‘one man, one vote’ demand. The Kazi-led Sikkim Congress, formed after
the merger of the Sikkim National Congress and Sikkim Janata Congress,
subsequent to the signing of the May 8th Agreement, won 31 of the 32 seats in
the polls alleged to have been heavily rigged. Poudyal was elected to the
Assembly for the first time from his home constituency of Lossing Pacheykhani
in East Sikkim.
Though pro-Sikkim forces, mischievously and
deliberately dubbed as ‘monarchists’ by pro-India elements and the Indian
media, led by nationalists leaders like Nar Bahadur Bhandari, Sherab Palden,
Lachen Gomchen Rinpoche, Captain Yongda, Nandu Thapa etc. were of the firm
belief that Sikkim was gradually heading towards ultimate merger with India,
its protecting power, there were those in the Congress camp men like Pradhan,
Poudyal, N. B. Subedi, Upreti and others,
who while demanding ‘full-fledged democracy’ in Sikkim, opposed merger
with India. They wanted to retain Sikkim’s separate political identity with the
Chogyal as a constitutional head.
When a controversial resolution seeking
Sikkim’s “participation in the political and economic institutions of India”
came up for adoption in the Assembly after the polls on May 11, 1974 it was
Poudyal and Subedi, MLA, who opposed it while demanding retention of Sikkim’s
distinct political identity as a protectorate of India. Poudyal, in fact,
wanted a “Prime Minister” and not a “Chief Minister” to head the Sikkim
Assembly. The stand taken by him are on record in the Sikkim Assembly
proceedings for public scrutiny.
Dissidents within the Congress led by
Poudyal not only opposed the controversial resolution on Sikkim’s participation
in India’s political institutions, they also demanded that Sikkim’s new
constitution be drafted by the Sikkimese and not by a constitutional expert
from India as was being demanded by the Congress party.
When the resolution came to the Assembly in
the form of a Bill (Govt of Sikkim Bill 1974) in June 1974, Poudyal not only
opposed it but staged a hunger strike to oppose the Bill with a view to
creating mass awareness on what was really happening in Sikkim in the name of
ushering in democracy. “The chief minister will be just like the leader of any
Indian State under this bill. We were promised a prime minister and told that
Sikkim would be linked to India only by a treaty. We are a separate country and
our identity must be respected,” Poudyal told visiting Indian journalists.
(Ref: Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim by Sunanda K. Dutta-Ray)
The picture becomes clearer after the
passing of the Bill in July 1974, which changed Sikkim’s status from a
Protectorate to an Associate State of India. The Associate State status still
retained Sikkim’s international status. Though Sikkim moved closer to India the
Chogyal was still the constitutional head of the kingdom.
On March 4, 1975, when the Chogyal returned
to Sikkim after attending King Birendra’s coronation in Kathmandu, he was
forcefully stopped from entering the country at the India-Sikkim border in
Rongpo, East Sikkim, by a group of Congress youths led by Poudyal and others.
In the scuffle that took place between the Choygal’s Sikkim Guards and the mob
Poudyal’s right hand wrist was allegedly slashed by a khukuri and he had
to be hospitalized.
During his visit to Kathmandu the Chogyal
briefed world leaders on India’s attempts to erase Sikkim’s independent status
and merge it with India. While a section of the Congress leadership wanted
Sikkim’s merger with India there were those who while demanding greater
political rights for the majority Nepalese and elected representatives never
wanted merger with India. Those within the ruling party who opposed the merger
rallied round Poudyal, who was a marked man in the Congress camp. In fact,
there was an internal conspiracy within the Congress party to ensure that
Poudyal was defeated in the April 1974 Sikkim Assembly elections.
Under the pretext of giving him proper
medical treatment Poudyal was kept in the army hospital in Libing, Gangtok, for
some time under strict surveillance and was later (after about a month) taken
to Pune in Maharashtra for further treatment by army personnel. Poudyal reveals
that after the Crown Prince came to see him at the army hospital and assured
him of “working together for the cause of Sikkim and the Sikkimese people” he
was taken away in an army vehicle the next day.
“No one, including myself, knew where I was
being taken. Even my family members did not know of my whereabouts,” says
Poudyal while recalling what really took place during this crucial period in
Sikkim’s history. Being close to the Gyalmo (queen) and with his opposition to
the merger Poudyal would certainly have posed problems to the authorities which
wanted a smooth takeover. Therefore, he had to be taken away from the scene of
action.
While Poudyal was mischievously whisked off
to faraway Pune (then Poona near Bombay) and virtually detained under house
arrest it was K.C. Pradhan who took over where Poudyal had left. Sensing that
Sikkim was about to be annexed Pradhan initiated a dialogue between the Chogyal
and the Kazini, Elisa Maria, wife of the Kazi and the main brain behind the
Congress party, to save Sikkim. When this, too, failed mainly because of the
treacherous act of a member of the Kazi Cabinet, Pradhan promptly submitted his
resignation to the Chogyal and quit Kazi’s Cabinet.
Pradhan, like Poudyal, knew that they were
being outmaneuvered by New
Delhi’s men in Sikkim. Pradhan later told reporters that it was not the Sikkim
Guards but a man in Sikkim Guards’ uniform, planted by anti-Chogyal elements in
Sikkim, who tried to kill Poudyal. He alleged that New Delhi was ready to
sacrifice Poudyal to remove the Chogyal, who was the only stumbling block on Sikkim’s
takeover. If Poudyal was killed the blame would squarely be placed on the
Chogyal, who would then be forced to step down, leading to the end of the
monarchy in Sikkim, Pradhan, who passed away a few years back, revealed.
Swift actions followed the Rongpo incident.
Sonam Yongda, a captain of the Sikkim Guards and a Chogyal loyalist, was
arrested on April 7, 1975. On April 9, the Sikkim Guards were disarmed and
forced to surrender with the help of the Indian army. After placing the Chogyal
under house arrest in the Palace the Assembly convened an emergent session on
April 10, 1975 and unanimously adopted a resolution abolishing the institution
of the Chogyal and declaring Sikkim as a constituent unit of India.
The adoption of this resolution was
accompanied by another resolution in the Assembly to hold a “special poll” on
April 14 to seek the people’s mandate on the resolution. Poudyal, then an MLA,
was still in Pune when these resolutions were adopted and when the “special
poll” was held. Nearly 100 per cent of the voters who voted for the “special
polls”, which was later mischievously termed as a “referendum” on the Assembly
resolution on abolition of monarchy and Sikkim’s integration with India.
Poudyal was still in Pune on April 26, 1975,
when the Lok Sabha passed the 36th Constitution (Amendment) Bill making Sikkim
the 22nd State of India. He was released from the hospital after minor
physiotherapy treatment only after Sikkim formally became an Indian State on
May 16, 1975.
That Poudyal later became the Deputy Speaker
of the House and eventually a Minister in the Kazi Cabinet is another story. In
retrospect, he should have stuck to his principles instead of joining those who
sold Sikkim. One would have expected people like Poudyal, Pradhan, and perhaps
even Khatiwada and Bhandari at a later stage to lead a movement to ensure that
Sikkim remained in the hands of the Sikkimese. But this never happened and our
leaders lost their sense of direction and got engrossed in petty politics after
the merger.
In the final analysis, Poudyal’s activities
during the merger era may have directly or indirectly led to the end of the
Namgyal dynasty and Sikkim’s absorption into the Indian Union. However, if we
view what really took place in the right perspective Poudyal’s name cannot and
must not be tagged along with the desh bechuas. In fact, facts go to
reveal that he had opposed the merger and stood for an independent Sikkim
having close and friendly relations with India. When the end was coming and no
one could stop it Poudyal wanted a status better than J&K for Sikkim.
Poudyal, therefore, deserves our thanks and
gratitude for all his noble endeavours during the merger era. We also owe an
apology to him for all past misunderstandings and humiliations, if any, meted
to him and his loved ones. And with all past misconceptions and distortions
finally sorted out, one truly hopes that Poudyal, now 65, will walk a free man
with his head high above his shoulders and face the future with hope and
confidence.
It was Dr. Paul Tournier who once said, “No
one can develop freely in the world and find a full life without feeling
understood by at least one person.” Even if there are those whose impression on
Poudyal still remains unchanged despite what I have written I hope he finds
consolation and freedom and happiness in the fact that I at least have
understood him truly and thoroughly.
People like Ram Chandra Poudyal, who still
are capable of performing one last act in their long and checkered political
career, are the setting suns of our political life. And in the twilight of
their life let them live in peace and harmony with themselves and with those
around them.
(Ref: Sikkim Observer, 2009)