SIKKIM FOR SIKKIMESE

 Distinct Identity Within The Union

“We know subjects exist only in a monarchy but the spirit behind the ‘Sikkim Subjects’ should always be preserved. We have every doubt that if this is not maintained we may be called foreigners one day. We will then have no means to prove our identity as Sikkimese.”

                                                                                                                                - Tek Nath Dhakal

                                                                                                              Spotlight on Sikkim, July 1984

TN Dhakal stated this in an interview in my Spotlight on Sikkim in July 1984. He was 30 then and a government servant. Now he has retired and is a senior leader of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM). Dhakal was also SKM’s Lok Sabha candidate during the recent general elections in the State.

In my book, Sikkim For Sikkimese: Distinct Identity Within The Union (published in 2009), I had stated: “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.”