Sikkim's accession to India has 6 stories. And 3 strong-willed women

The Print

2 days ago

However, this—and the upcoming column—is not about the sterling accomplishments of the state, but about the narratives regarding the formation of this Himalayan land. These include Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim by Sunanda K Datta-Ray, The Sikkim Saga by Brajbir Saran Das, Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom by Andrew Duff, Sikkim: Dawn of Democracy by GBS Sidhu, and Sikkim: A History of Intrigue and Alliances by Preet Mohan Singh Malik. Incidentally, all these were written by those who saw Sikkim from outside: Dutta-Ray was the editor of The Stateman and a personal friend of the Chogyals, to whom he has dedicated the book; Das was a civil servant who saw the transition, Duff was a Scotsman who followed his father's footsteps to this Shangri La and based his writings on the letters of his 'missionary aunts', who had access to the palace; Sidhu headed the operations of the R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing); Malik was a foreign service officer who was posted there in the late 1960s.
In these five decades, Sikkim has indeed been a success story. In 2023-24, it overtook Goa to become the state with the highest per capita GDP in the country. In 2024-25, the per capita income was Rs 7.07 lakh, as against the all-India average of Rs 2.4 lakh. Addressing a mammoth gathering at Gangtok on 29 May via video conferencing from Bagdogra airport in Siliguri, Prime Minister Modi (his trip had to be cancelled last minute on account of inclement weather) congratulated the people of Sikkim for becoming the 'numero uno' state in the country, and expressed complete confidence in seeing Sikkim as the sports, tourism, medical education, hydropower and organic agriculture hub of the country.
In 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd constituent state of the Union of India, that is Bharat. There are actually three dates in the spring of that year that bear recalling. The first of these is 16 May, which marks the passage of the 36th Constitutional Amendment. This affected a change in Article 1 Schedule, which defines India as a Union of States, and introduced Article 371 F, which grants special provisions for Sikkim. The second is 26 April, the retrospective date on which it came into effect. The third is the date of the referendum—14 April—on which an overwhelming majority chose the Democratic Republic of India over the theological feudalism exercised by the Chogyal monarchy.
Another powerful narrative is Sikkim: The Wounds of History by Biraj Adhikari, a political activist from the state. This looks at how a teenager coped with learning a new national anthem and saluting a new flag during his formative years.
As is often said, the historian is more powerful than god, for they can reimagine the past. An interesting point to note is that all these six narratives accept the fact of changing demographics, unrepresentative institutions, Verrier Elwin's influence on Nehru's frontier policy, feudal landholdings, the 1962 war, Sikkim's outreach to Nepal and Bhutan, and the role of three strong-willed women. These were Hope Cooke, the celebrity Gyalmo (royal consort) to the Chogyal; Kazini Elisa Maria Dorjee, the very ambitious wife of the popular leader Lhendup Dorjee, who had been snubbed by the Gyalmo; and Indira Gandhi, who had won India's most decisive war against Pakistan. All of their personalities and ambitions were inextricably connected with the transition. Let me talk briefly about each of these facts before commenting on how the different commentators have given their own perspective on them.
Also read: BJP wants to emerge as a power in Sikkim. First, it must assure Article 371F will stay as is
Demography is destiny
First and foremost, one has to remember that for Sikkim—as for any other political entity—demography is destiny.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, the monastic establishments invited the Nepali workers to farm the lands and ensure a regular supply of grains to the community of monks and nuns. The population of the Nepali householders grew, whereas the fertility rate of Bhutias and Lepchas saw a decline—so much so that even in 1947, at the time of Independence, the Nepalis were 60 per cent of the total population.
Their condition is best described in the words of Tashi Tshering, the head of the Sikkim Congress in 1947. 'Sikkim is a small Indian state tucked away in a corner of the Himalayas. Its ruler Sir Tashi Namgyal, KCSI, KCIE is of Tibetan descent, and so are his personal adherents, the Kazis, who form the majority of the landlords of Sikkim. His Highness has a council consisting entirely of landlords and a secretariat, which is largely controlled by the landlords, the subject people or Eyoys (peasants) have no voice in the administration and they have long groaned under the yoke of landlordism,' he said.
Even after the reforms of 1953, in which universal adult franchise was introduced, only six of the eighteen seats in the State Assembly were earmarked for those of Nepali descent. Another six were reserved for the Lepcha-Bhutia community, and the final six seats were filled by nominees from the Chogyal.
It is important to note that in the aftermath of Independence, Sardar Patel and BN Rau, the constitutional advisor, made the case for Sikkim's accession to India. The Chogyal was, at the time, the Vice Chair of the Chamber of Princes.
Patel and Rau's case was not accepted by Nehru, who, under the influence of Verrier Elwin's Frontier policy, placed this under the Ministry of External Affairs. It gave many in Sikkim and other parts of the world the impression that the status of Sikkim was different from that of the 562 states which merged with India.
Even though Nehru supported land reforms elsewhere in the country, the tenants of Sikkim continued to be disempowered. In the aftermath of the 1962 war, India realised how fragile its borders were, the strategic importance of the Chumbi valley and the vulnerability of the chicken's neck—the Siliguri corridor.
Meanwhile, the Chogyal's whirlwind romance with the American Hope Cooke landed him in the pages of the influential American magazine Life. Cooke was so enamoured by the media blitz that she ignored the ground reality of her husband's state (which was more of an estate), fought with the Kazini, and assumed that she, as queen, ranked higher in protocol than the democratically elected, and very powerful Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.
Also read: Sikkim's war on GLOF. Monks, shamans, and scientists are all in the fight
The different narratives
We will first take up Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim. In this book, dedicated to Jungkhyang—the reverential term used for the Chogyal—Dutta-Ray draws an intricate tapestry of characters. A benign, trusting monarch in the Chogyal, his glamorous wife, Hope Cooke, the partisan politician, Kazi Lhendup Dorjee, his ambitious wife, the Kazini Elisa Maria Dorjee, a flip-flopping political officer in GBS Sidhu, and a shrewd, merciless tactician in Indira Gandhi.
The book also delves deeply into the historicity of the event, through the British skirmishes in the area, the Nepalese migration, the ambivalent Nehruvian years, the mounting geopolitical tensions with China, the anti-royalist protests staged outside the palace, right down to the referendum that officially sealed the fate of the 333 old Namgyal dynasty (1642-1975). Published by Vikas in 1984, its circulation was highly restricted on account of a defamation suit filed against the author and the publisher by the Kazi and Kazini. I got to see a copy of the book in Kalimpong, where I was posted during the peak of the Gorkha National Liberation Front agitation in 1986.
Obviously, the version of events in this book is at total variance with what 'the flip-flopping officer', GBS Sidhu wrote in Sikkim: The Dawn of Democracy, about which we shall discuss in the next column.
This is the first in a series of columns about Sikkim's accession to India.
Sanjeev Chopra is a former IAS officer and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Until recently, he was director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He tweets @ChopraSanjeev. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)