"WE SHALL NOT BE SUBMERGED":BHANDARI

MERGER TERMS VIOLATED: POUDYAL
   In 1979, veteran politician Ram Chandra Poudyal accused India of betraying the Sikkimese when New Delhi unilaterally did away with the political rights of Sikkimese Nepalese, when it abolished the traditional seats reserved for Sikkimese Nepalese in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

   "In a letter to the members of the Indian Parliament in July 1979, Poudyal stated: “Following the amendment of the Representation of People Act 1950/51, Sikkim has not gone to the polls and we are at a loss to understand as to how the proposed amendment Bill has been brought to the Parliament without the knowledge and concurrence either of the Sikkim Assembly or that of the State Cabinet. The proposed amendment is an attempt to invalidate and nullify the sacred commitments given to the Sikkimese people prior to the merger.”
   The letter further added: “By seeing the ratio of the influx of the people from other States for the past six years, we have come to the conclusion that be it a majority community or minority community, we the Indian Sikkimese of Bhutia-Lepcha and Nepali origin will not be able to send our adequate representation in the Legislative Assembly of Sikkim within a few years of time unless our seats are reserved.
   Somehow, Bhandari – more than any other politicians in Sikkim – has been chiefly responsible for keeping the ‘merger issue’ alive in the past one and half decades. “We have been merged; we shall not be submerged” was his unflinching stand during his first few years in office to counter outside forces aiming to destroy the unique identity of the Sikkimese. 

   The seat reservation issue has been the main political issue of all major political parties in Sikkim in all the three Assembly elections since 1979. Besides Bhandari, leaders of other political parties and social organisations have continually reiterated their demand for restoration of Assembly seats for all Sikkimese, including the majority Sikkimese Nepalese.
   The ruling SSP, under Bhandari’s presidentship, has maintained that the Centre, by abolishing the reserved seats of the Sikkimese Nepalese, has betrayed the Sikkimese people and failed to abide by the terms of the merger. Reacting against the abolition of seats reserved for the Sikkimese Nepalese, the SSP in a resolution adopted during its annual anniversary celebrations on May 24, 1988, stated:    

   “The abolition of seats was done in the most arbitrary manner through an ordinance without consulting any public opinion. Such things do not happen in a democracy. It is against the very spirit of merger of Sikkim with India. Hence it is a case of great betrayal of the Sikkimese people.”

   The people of Sikkim are convinced that restoration of reservation of seats for the Sikkimese would not only ensure preservation of the regional identity of Sikkim, but would also “accelerate the process of national integration”. But the Centre failed to see this point and continually ignored the sentiments of the people. Knowing full well that Sikkim was annexed for India’s security interests, it is difficult to tell whether the people will further submit to Delhi’s diktat and accept the gradual disintegration of the Sikkimese society as ‘fait accompli’. It would do a lot of good to the nation if the Centre took note of what the Hindustan Times said during the merger. Criticising the Centre’s method and motive on Sikkim’s takeover, the paper in 1975 warned: ‘Security depends on people, not territory”. If the Centre fails to get the trust and confidence of the Sikkimese, Sikkim’s absorption into the Union will be of little value.
   Referring to the spirit behind Sikkim’s merger with India, the Government of Sikkim in a booklet on the basic political issues of Sikkim stated: “Parliament has thus been cast with the sacred duty of protecting the rights and interests of different sections of the population of Sikkim in the manner of allocation of seats in the State Assembly. It is this tacit and sacred understanding that the Sikkimese people decided to join the mainstream of national life and Sikkim became a part of the Indian Union on 26th April, 1975. This demand for seat reservation has been the main plank of all political parties in the State during elections…

   The people of Sikkim know that abolition of seats of the Sikkimese Nepalese was most unjust and unconstitutional and it would cut at the very root of amity, peace and harmony existing between the various communities in the State.”
   The fulfilment of the demand on the seat reservation, the booklet stated, “will not only help preserve their identity: but will also accelerate the process of bringing the people of this sensitive border State into the “mainstream of national life”. 

   Bhandari’s competence and readiness to raise the “merger issue” once more to meet his political ends, and Kazi’s threat of a “new thinking” in Sikkim if the Centre continues to violate the terms of the merger, coupled with Chamling’s call for “restoration of freedom and democracy” in Sikkim, along with the general mood of frustration and fear among the people regarding their uncertain future, may lead to a new political development in the former Himalayan Kingdom in the coming days.
   It, will indeed, be a terrible mistake if New Delhi continues to remain unrepentant and unresponsive to the sentiments of the Sikkimese people. Admitting mistakes and confessing regrets when the situation goes out of hand will then be too late. The nation then will be forced to pay a heavy price for the “terrible mistake” in Sikkim."

(Ref: Inside Sikkim:Against the Tide, Jigme N Kazi, 1993)