THE INDIAN BETRAYAL OF SIKKIM

   No one is asking for restoration of the monarchy in Sikkim. Not even the minority Buddhist Bhutia-Lepcha tribals, whose chogyals (kings) ruled Sikkim for more than 300 years, are looking for the return of their kingdom unjustly and abruptly taken over by its protecting power, India, in 1975.

   However, having seen democratic India’s misrule through its ‘agents’ in the former (himalayan) kingdom since the ‘merger’ questions are being raised on what kind of person Sikkim’s last ruler of the Namgyal Dynasty really was. The picture painted by Indian politicians and officials and pro-merger mediapersons and writers in India of the 12^th Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, being a villain and a ruthless ruler who suppressed the people for his own betterment is gradually receding even as politically-conscious political leadership among the youths are rediscovering how Sikkim was ruled during the Chogyal era and rejecting New Delhi’s version of how things were and should be.

   As in the past, Sikkim’s 36^th State Day ‘celebrations’ on May 16 (2011) was a ritual affair. People, by and large, are now well-aware of what really took place during the Indian-backed agitation that began in Sikkim in early 1973, leading to the fake Assembly  elections in early 1974, and the so-called ‘referendum’ in early 1974. These well-planned and carefully orchestrated events led to Sikkim’s ultimate absorption into the Indian Union in April-May, 1975.

   With the Chogyal under house arrest from 1975 to 1979-80, his personal Sikkim Guards forcefully disbanded by the Indian army, and pro-Sikkim, anti-merger political leaders imprisoned (emergency was declared in India soon after the ‘merger’) or under constant watch by the Indian authorities and the pro-India Kazi Government in Gangtok, the Sikkimese people had nowhere to turn to and lived in constant fear and tension.

Their ultimate victory came when the Sikkim Parishad party led by Nar Bahadur Bhandari, former chief minister and presently the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee President, trounced pro-merger Kazi Government in the first Assembly polls held in Sikkim after the takeover in October 1979. That Bhandari failed to keep his de-merger promises made to the people before the Assembly elections is a sad and unfortunate chapter in Sikkim’s contemporary political history.

   Tired of the constant betrayals by the political leadership in Sikkim, Duk Nath Nepal, a former Communist and an anti-establishment writer and critic, has lashed out against those who have betrayed the Sikkimese people. “In the last 35 years, politicians have won and the people have lost,” Nepal said here last week.

    Declaring his new political outfit, Sikkim Liberation Party (SLP), Nepal (42), Chief Convenor of the party, said despite political parties since the ‘merger’ capturing almost all seats in the 32-member Assembly (Chief Minister Pawan Chamling’s ruling Sikkim Democratic Front, which has been in power for the fourth consecutive term since 1994, has all 32 seats in its kitty) the Sikkimese people have become refugees in their own homeland. He said ‘real democracy’ is yet to come to the State.
   “In the last 35 years while those in power plundered the land, Sikkimese people have become unprotected and helpless,” Nepal said, while adding, “There is a large section in Sikkim which has not enjoyed democracy in the past 35 years. Democracy has been kidnapped, leaving the people always craving after democracy.”

   In a memorandum sent to the Union Home Minister on State Day (May 16, 2011), Nepal warned that if New Delhi continues to neglect gross violation of democratic rights, rampant corruption in the administration, and fails to keep promises made to the Sikkimese during the merger as reflected in Article 371F, which gives special status to Sikkim and safeguards the ‘distinct identity’ of the Sikkimese, the people would be forced to adopt a “different course” of action to shape their future.

   With the objective of preserving Sikkimese unity and identity, Bharat Basnet, a senior Congressman who was recently expelled from the Congress party for his alleged “anti-party” activities, recently formed the Sikkim Solidarity Forum for Gorkhaland, and has now demanded that all ‘Sikkimese Nepalese,’ who were ‘subjects’ of the Chogyal in the former kingdom and possess “Sikkim Subject Certificate”, a valid document held by bonafide Sikkimese belonging to the three ethnic communities – Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalese – be included in the State’s scheduled tribes list.

   New Delhi’s ‘divide and rule’ policy adopted by the established in Sikkim has not only fragmented the closely-nit Sikkimese society carefully nurtured down the ages, it has also posed a great danger to the future survival of Sikkimese in the land of their origin. Presently, the Sikkimese Nepalese are divided into four factions – scheduled castes, other backward classes (Rais, Gurungs etc), tribals (Limbus and Tamangs), and others (Bhahuns, Chettris and Newars).

   Briefing reporters here recently, Basnet said the objective of including all Sikkimese Nepalese in the ST category is to fight for restoration of their reserved Assembly seats in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly and preservation of the ‘distinct identity’ of Sikkimese Nepalese, who were former citizens of the kingdom of Sikkim. Incidentally, the Chamling Government has also demanded that all ‘Sikkimese Nepalese’ be included in the ST list.

    However, former minister KN Upreti has opposed Basnet’s demand for ST status for Sikkimese Nepalese. He believes that only under Article 371F of the Constitution, which reflects the provisions of the historic May 8, 1973 tripartite signed between the Chogyal, Government of India and leaders of three major political parties in Sikkim, would preserve Sikkim’s “distinct identity.”  In a press statement, Upreti said, “Inviting the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to get tribal status neither gives us protection nor preserves our distinct character.”

   Politically, Sikkim’s distinct character was reflected in the composition of seats reserved for the three ethnic communities in the House during the Chogyal era. Representative form of government began in 1953 when Sikkim held its first elections to the Sikkim Council (the Council was later replaced by Sikkim Assembly), where seats were reserved for the minority Bhutia-Lepchas as well as the majority Sikkimese Nepalese.

   The abolition of 16 seats reserved in the Assembly for Sikkimese Nepalese by the Chogyal four years after the ‘merger’ in 1979 and the gradual dilution of the political rights of the Bhutia-Lepchas through inclusion of more non-Sikkimese in the definition of “Bhutia” in 1978 is not only seen as a great betrayal of the Sikkimese people but also an unfortunate development that will ultimately lead to the death of the Sikkimese dream of a “distinct identity within the Union.

(Period: May 15, 2011)