SIKKIM’S IDENTITY CRISIS - I ‘Pink Card’ will lead to the death of ‘Sikkim Subjects’

SIKKIM OBSERVER Jan 22, 2011

Sikkim’s former Chief Secretary Sonam Wangdi says the Chamling Government’s bid to issue ‘Pink Identity Card’ to residents of Sikkim  other than ‘Sikkim Subjects’, who resided in the State before April 26, 1975 when Sikkim became the 22^nd State of the Indian Union, is aimed at driving the last and final nail on the Sikkim Subjects’ coffin.               

Rule of Law

In a democracy, the Rule of Law is the most important characteristic of a polity. The root cause of most of the fundamental problems in our country can be traced to our Rulers’ inaction or action  -  wrong action at right time or wrong action at wrong time, or right action at wrong time  - which is not consistent with the Rule of Law. The British people do not have a ‘written’ constitution; but they are governed far better than we in India are with the lengthiest written constitution in history. All the people and the three branches of the British government meticulously follow the Rule of Law. The people at the helm of affairs in the developed countries normally take right action at right time in consonance with the Rule of Law and in consonance with their conscience .  

Outsiders in Jorethang

Replying to one of the points raised by a member in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly on  28 March, 1978, the Minister-in-charge, Hon’ble Bhuwani Prasad Dahal from the Rhenock Constituency, (since deceased),  said: “It has been mentioned that unauthorized constructions have come up in Jorethang bazaar. During 1973 agitation many people came from outside and started occupying the places.” [Page160].   The Minister was responding to the statement of Hon’ble Mohan Gurung, Regu Constituency, in the Assembly: “Unauthorized constructions have come up in Jorethang bazaar. The Government should have done the proper planning of the Jorethang Bazar”. [Proceedings of the Assembly, Page 152]

     Outsiders, however, are not confined to Jorethang alone; they are all over Sikkim. The outsiders are wanted by the insiders who cannot do without them. Development works in Sikkim, even during pre-merger days, had been done by outsiders from Nepal, Bhutan and India. The Kingdom of Sikkim had the Sikkim Work Permit Rules, 1965 which required the Nepalese, Tibetans and Bhutanese and other non-Indians to obtain work permits in Sikkim. However the Indians were not required to get the permit in accordance with the India-Sikkim Treaty of 1950. The 1965 Rules is one of the many Laws in Sikkim which are in the statute book but not applied. [The Sikkim Code, Vol II Part I, Chapter I II Pp169-71Published by Law Department, Gangtok]

Immigration from Nepal

Moreover,“159. The largest volume of immigration to Sikkim takes not from India, but from Nepal. In the 1961 census 5,352 persons born in Nepal were enumerated in Sikkim of whom 1,974 were residing there for 16 years or longer, 500 for 11 to 15 years, 735 for 6 to 10 years, 714 for 1 to 5 years and 647 for less than 1 year. The duration of residence of 782 persons was not stated. The 1951 census revealed 3,162 immigrants from Nepal. Therefore, 2,190 persons must have come in the intercensal period.”. [Census of India, 1961 Volume XVI, West Bengal & Sikkim, Part I-A , General Report, Book (i) Population Progress, Page 384]

31,180 Fake Sikkim Subject Certificates

I have quoted above only a few of the most authoritative and authentic government documents to drive home my point that there are thousands of illegal settlers in Sikkim. It may be noted that the Sikkim Government itself had stated that there are at least 31, 180 “fake Sikkim Subject certificate holders”. The Sikkim National People’s Party  even filed “a formal complaint  with Gangtok Sadar Police demanding legal proceedings against 31,180 individuals possessing fake Sikkim Subject certificates as admitted by the State government earlier this year” [Sikkim Express Gangtok  6 Dec, 2010]. The police, however, will not take any action without an order from the Government. And never will the government order any action unless there is a violent agitation. For the time being, there will continue to be the peace of the grave yard. But we should be aware of John Dryden’s  “Beware the fury of a  patient man.”   

During the Dui hazaar saat saal [2007] andolan in Nepal to oust the Rana Rule, many Nepalese came to Sikkim. Some families settled in areas close to my village. Legally speaking, they cannot be  Sikkimese, since they came after 1946.       

Pink Card   

The recent ‘controversy’ about the Residential Card or the Pink Card which the Sikkim government proposes to issue to the people residing in Sikkim from 26 April, 1975 onwards is an avoidable problem. The political war of words over the “Pink Card” or “Residential Card” between the ruling and opposition parties would not have arisen if the powers that be in the past and present  had followed the Laws and the Constitution, especially Article 371F,  governing the Indian Union and  its  constituent parts.

             The Pink voters’ card in 1975 had extinguished the distinct personality of Sikkim as an Associate State, a kingdom associated with a Republic – an unprecedented event in the annals of mankind. The Pink card proposed to be given to all and sundry who are in Sikkim from 26 April, 1975 onwards will snuff out the Sikkim Subject Certificates for eternity.

I quote myself from Now,1 September, 2010: “Since 1975, Sikkim is no more a kingdom. It is unfortunate that the Bhutia, Lepcha and Tsong have lost their country and are strangers in their own land and are being made to part with the Sikkim Subject Certificates given to them by their monarch and go in for “pink cards”. Red is a dangerous colour elsewhere. But in Sikkim, pink is a dangerous hue. In April, 1975, the pink ballot paper was made an instrument to extinguish the distinct international personality of Sikkim. I do not normally vaticinate.  But, thirty-six years later, the ‘pink cards’ will certainly herald the eternal death knell of Sikkim Subjects Certificates – the last vestige of a glorious past – if the people are not alert.” (to be continued)