Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim: The title of the famous book by renowned editorSunanda K. Datta-Ray, aptly describes the process of how Sikkim, an independent country like Nepal and Bhutan, was reduced into India’s 22nd state, in 1975 May, fifty years ago.
If May 2025 marked a “decimation” of Pakistan by India, May 1975 had marked disappearance of Sikkim as a country. The “Annexation” by India was “unjust and immoral”, said Morarji Desai as Prime Minister in 1978. Vajpayee was then his Foreign Minister in the Janata Party ministry. Modi prefers to emulate Nehru and Indira, not Morarji and Vajpayee.
This article, drawing from various accounts of those involved, briefly recalls the event and the process, unknown to younger generations of the Information revolution era, and conveniently ‘forgotten by elders’, of a self-righteous India. It was an event that shocked and struck fear among India’s neighbors, and led to a new term Sikkimization in international politics. It was a process of Smash and Grab, deceit and betrayal, that described the hegemonic policies of India, the Big Brother, with expansionist ambitions, never satiated. It happened so soon after Bangladesh war (1971) that led to dismemberment of Pakistan, “a failed state”- as now described by the Media, with the connivance of the Indian State.
Do “failed” States have no right to exist? Or don’t deserve sovereignty and territorial integrity? It looks as if so: Pakistan and Bangladesh, both, once again face these threats today.
This story is not merely about Sikkim. It is a text book case that seeks to remind the attitude, processes and practices of India’s hegemonism and expansionism, covered up by the Big Media, a source of deliberate disinformation, more so today. It is to the credit of countercurrents, and its bold editor, that it recalls and records the story, among other such exclusives.
Sikkimization still rings in the words of India’s leaders, and disturbs the neighbors. Not without reason:
PM Modi joined celebrations of the annexation. “50 years ago, Sikkim charted a democratic future for itself. The people of Sikkim not only connected with India’s geography but also with its soul”, said PM Modi on May 29. He addressed from nearby town Bagdogra of North Bengal. He highlighted several projects related to Sikkim, including a statue of former PM Vajpayee, though he preferred to emulate Indira Gandhi whose regime annexed Sikkim, and not a skeptic Vajpayee. As usual currently, he issued warnings to Pakistan, mentioned POK etc.
On the same day, addressing a CII meet, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also referred to POK, and said that the majority of people in POK feel a deep cultural and emotional connection with India, asserting that only a handful have been misled. He expressed hope that POK will one day declare, “I am India, I have returned.” That day is not far.
His comments came shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent statement, urged the youth of Pakistan to rise and “liberate” their nation from the “disease of terrorism”. (India Today, May 29).
These words, spoken by PM and DM on the day Sikkim was annexed 50 years ago, are ominous, and disturb all neighboring countries.
The present rulers are only carrying forward the hegemonist legacy of Nehrus, be it in relation to China Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka or Maldives, not to speak of Sikkim. The RAW created during Indira Gandhi regime is one of Modi regime’s main instruments, now active in Canada, and Balochistan too. Ajit Doval (IPS), born in 1945, who once headed IB and RAW, and is now the NSA Advisor of Modi regime since 2014, was trained during Indira regime, and the young operative played a key role in Sikkim too.
With an active role of RAW, “Liberation” of Bangladesh, and of “feudal” Sikkim, were “achieved” by Indira regime. They were soon followed by the autocratic and notorious Emergency of June 1975, imposed by Indira Gandhi regime, which saw more than one lakh people imprisoned, including RSS activists like Modi, many of them under preventive detention provisions, now used extensively by Modi regime through UAPA. Now BJP-Modi’s undeclared Emergency rule seeks to outdo the Congress regimes in autocracy as well as expansionism.
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An “annexation that was immoral, unjust”: PM Morarji Desai
The word annexation was used not only by the author of the above book.
Prime Minister Morarji Desai himself had bluntly stated in parliament (on 1978 March 10) that Sikkim’s annexation was a “wrong step”, “not a desirable” one, though he ‘can not undo it now’. Like BJP and Modi blame today, the Congress and its ally CPI had attacked Desai for “treasonable” statements that “questioned the integrity and sovereignty” of India, an irony at a time a neighboring country was annexed! Morarji was candid and bold, called it “annexation”, and an “immoral and unjust act” (India Today, 1978 April 30). He told agitated MPs that he would ‘neither withdraw nor apologize’ for the statements he made in an interview with NYT (March 11, 1978). A “seditious” PM indeed; he would have been in jail, if only he were alive!
Why did Morarji say so? He was aware: In 1972, Indira Gandhi called RN Kao, the chief of India’s Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). She asked Kao to “do something about Sikkim”. Within a few weeks, Gandhi approved a special Operation Twilight. The aim was to make Sikkim a part of India. And so it was made.
Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim (433 p. Jan1984), written by a veteran (born 1937),who was the editor of an oldest newspaper, The Statesman of Kolkata, closest centre to Sikkim. How did the Establishment take it? The blurb reads:
“This book made history. It wasn’t banned, not quite, when it first appeared in 1984, but its disappearance was cleverly managed so that few got to read the only authentic account of how a protected kingdom became India’s twenty-second state…he (the author) was ‘alone in witnessing and communicating the essential story’. He had to surmount many obstacles and incur severe disapproval to do so. Nearly thirty years later, a revised edition with the author’s long new introduction reads like an exciting thriller.” “Citing documents that have not been seen by any other writer”, he wrote it.
A reviewer of a revised edition of2014 in dailypioneer.com, brought out the significance:
“ Those of us who have grown up reading and believing that the integration of Sikkim into the Indian Union had been driven by an overwhelming desire of its people to join this country, will be rudely jolted by Sunanda K Datta-Ray’s narrative. ..In what is perhaps the most authentic account of the historic event, the author proceeds to smash the long-held perception of a benign New Delhi stepping in to offer ‘relief’ to the ‘suffering’ people of Sikkim, and grab the reality which the authorities have carefully hidden behind the curtains since the “annexation”.
A “Double Game” and a betrayal
In fact, India was playing a “double game”. On one hand, it was supporting Lhendup in whatever way possible against the King. On the other hand, it was assuring the king that monarchy would survive in Sikkim. The Chogyal was also an honorary Major General of the Indian Army. He never thought that his ‘own army’ would act against him. It was only an illusion…
“The Chogyal was a great believer in India. He had huge respect for Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Not in his wildest dreams did he think India would ever gobble up his kingdom”, recalls Captain Sonam Yongda, the Chogyal’s aide-de-camp. He said: “the King couldn’t think even in his dreams that India could use force to annex Sikkim.”
Gandhian PM Morarji could not digest all this. So he was blunt.
This story seeks to uncover and remind the sordid story.
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Annexation : Why, when and how?
This is a new biography (2019) RN Kao: Gentleman Spymaster of RAW, with a Foreword by his successor and the current chief Ajit Doval, written by strategic affairs analyst and author, Nitin A Gokhale. None of them is ‘gentle’ is in their ruthless profession of course. He writes that the Chogyal, or the then King of Sikkim (Palden Thondup Namgyal), was pressuring India to revise the Indo-Sikkim Treaty, according to which it was a protectorate, and had developed ambitions to have a separate state like Bhutan. This is when (December 1972) ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi turned to Kao and asked him: “Can you do something about Sikkim?” (Hindustan Times, Dec 13, 2019)
Bhutan, also a protectorate, became a member of UN in 1971 September. Chogyal was thinking in those lines, and that alarmed ‘India that is Indira’, as DK Baruah called her. She was bent on thwarting the decolonization aspirations of Sikkim.
The then Indian envoy to Sikkim (known as ‘political officer’) BS Das wrote in his book The Sikkim Saga, “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end...” He was embarrassed by methods used, and said often he did not agree with them.
Indira Gandhi was concerned that Sikkim may show independent tendencies and become a UN member like Bhutan did in 1971, and she also didn’t take kindly to the three Himalayan kingdoms, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal, getting too cosy with each other. RAW was given the job of tackling them all, and it did that.
RN Kao the chief of Research and Analysis Wing , RAW, played a major role in both Sikkim integration and 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Patel’s letter to Nehru, 1950
Indira and Kao – both know what sardar Patel, India’s hegemonic Home Minister, wrote to her father PM Nehru in 1950, just a few weeks before Patel died. The famous letter of Nov 7, 1950 refers to Sikkim, Northeast, Darjeeling, all in ferment in 1970s. Patel referred also to Telangana peasant armed struggle (1946-51), and linked it with Sikkim and Northeast. Now, during Indira’s times, Darjeeling was witnessing Naxalbari, reminding Telangana. Together, Nehru and Patel had just virtually waged a war (1948 Sep to 1951-52) against Telangana’s peasants, by deploying army with 50,000 men. Patel wrote:
“ Our northern and north-eastern approaches consist of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, the Darjeeling (area) and tribal areas in Assam. From the point of view of communication, there are weak spots. Continuous defensive lines do not exist…The contact of these areas with us is by no means close and intimate.The people inhabiting these portions have no established loyalty or devotion to India; even the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas are not free from pro-Mongoloid prejudices. During the last three years we have not been able to make any appreciable approaches to the Nagas and other hill tribes in Assam.
“In Sikkim, there was political ferment some time ago. It is quite possible that discontent is smouldering there. Bhutan is comparatively quiet, but its affinity with Tibetans would be a handicap. Nepal has a weak oligarchic regime ..I am sure the Chinese and their source of inspiration, Soviet Union would not miss any opportunity of exploiting these weak spots, partly in support of their ideology and partly in support of their ambitions…” (More on Patel’s letter towards the end. See Apendix.)
Today they blame a Rising China, “expansionist”, is a threat. When Patel wrote the letter, People’s China hardly settled down. But Indian ruling classes, who inherited British colonial mind and machinery, were already inimical towards People’s China. And they continued, till date, unequal treaties with Nepal Bhutan; and Sikkim, they simply annexed. Can they too be called a threat?
Thus Indira – like Modi today- saw a “strategic” threat not to India’s sovereignty, but to India’s regional hegemony. India and its Big Media ‘forget’ China is as much a neighbor as India is, to all in South Asia. They want India to be the sole Big Brother. Indira did not like these small neighbors getting together, because they always resented it. Nor Modi likes: he refused to convene SAARC since 2014, though he harps on dialog, and friendly neighborhood. PM Vajpayee had said, you can not choose or change your neighbors. But Indira believed in regime change. Modi emulates her, not Vajpayee.
Screen play by RAW led by Kao
So Indira asked Kao to do something, and he did:
“ Gokhale writes that a plan was prepared in Kolkata within a fortnight by the then joint director of RAW, PN Banerjee, who also had a major role in covert operations in Bangladesh during 1971 war. Kao took the plan to Gandhi, who instantly cleared it. The strategy was to undermine and weaken the Chogyal through agitations launched by political parties led by Kazi Lendhup Dorzi (who was leader of the Sikkim National Congress) and other younger leaders (KC Pradhan) who had launched a joint action committee (JAC) in Sikkim against the Chogyal.
Kao’s officers, Banerjee and Ajit Singh Syali (who was posted as OSD in Gangtok and primarily collected trans-border intelligence on Tibet) launched their operations, Janamat and Twilight.. Pradhan and Kazi met Banerjee’s team in February 1973…In a meeting called on R&AW’s request in Delhi, it was decided to “strengthen and encourage the agitation till it came to a stage where the Chogyal would be forced to approach government of India for assistance in dealing with the situation”.
“It was further decided to publicise that the Chogyal had no right to be the king and once the agitation gained momentum, to send Indian army troops for occasional route marches to remind the people of their presence and make sure that the anti-Chogyal, or pro-democracy, movement was not abandoned as it had been in 1949, by Nehru. But then Nehru and Patel had their hands full tackling Kashmir, Telangana etc. Sikkim was too small, harmless. The sangh parivar is keen more on blaming, going against facts.
Nehru himself had told journalist Kuldip Nayar in 1960: “Taking a small country like Sikkim by force would be like shooting a fly with a rifle.” Ironically it was Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi who cited ‘national interest’ to make Sikkim the 22nd state of the Indian union: Just south of Sikkim lay the “chicken neck,” a narrow corridor that links the mainland with the turbulent Northeast, and the disputed LAC with China.
The Sangh Parivar are no match to Indira Gandhi, the Durga mata hailed by the parivar:
Now in 1970s Indira Gandhi was going from strength to strength, and India was flexing its muscles, backed up by Indo-Soviet treaty (signed in Aug 1971) with military clauses. Then followed the 1971 Bangladesh war and the atomic test in 1974, which gave Delhi the confidence to take care of Sikkim once and for all.
As part of the plan, the local RAW team got down to the task of instigating and guiding the agitation, kept the anti-Chogyal leaders united and focused, and, of course, offered financial help whenever necessary, Gokhale writes.
A scene was scripted and enacted:
“On Chogyal’s 50th birthday, April 4, 1973, there were clashes on the streets of Gangtok, leading to police firing and a couple of deaths. When Chogyal’s elder son, Tenzing, was stopped on his way to the palace, one of the Sikkim Guards opened fire on demonstrators in panic. This was used by Kazi to whip up anti-Chogyal sentiment. By the next day, there was looting and arson on the streets across Sikkim.
Kao informed Gandhi that the takeover of Sikkim was imminent.
By April 8, Chogyal was forced to sign a suicidal draft prepared by India, which stated that administration would be taken over by Indian government and Commissioner of Police would be placed under GOC, 17 Mountain Division, of Indian Army. Kazi then called off the agitation in Gangtok.
The ministry of external affairs then selected IPS officer, BS Das as Chief Executive of Sikkim. He was briefed about India’s ultimate objective in Sikkim: the merger of the state to the Indian union, and that for India’s strategic reasons (The Saga of Sikkim).
Over the next few months, RAW instructed further anti-Chogyal demonstrations and rallies in Sikkim. Kao also instructed Banerjee to allow the Nepalese or other extremist elements of Darjeeling to join hands with JAC. “We must ensure that in any agreement reached among the various political parties, India’s special position in Sikkim is further strengthened. Neither the Durbar, nor the preponderant Nepalese community, nor the Bhutias/Lepchas should dominate the future setup of Sikkim. There should be ample scope for us to play one group against the other in future so that no one group becomes too powerful,” Kao wrote on his communication.
Kao added that India should look to have 70% of candidates (who are on its side) in the assembly: 31 out of 32 were “elected” in a rigged poll.
Over six months of elections in 1975 in Sikkim, Kao wanted the agitation maintained. “Foreign secretary Kewal Singh was equally supportive and was ruthless in implementing India’s eventual plan to merge Sikkim with India,” Gokhale writes.
Meanwhile the Chogyal thought of internationalizing the issue.
This is when R&AW launched the final stage of its plan. While the government prepared the ground for a resolution to be passed in the assembly, the R&AW had to make sure no bloodshed took place and it was essential to disarm the Sikkim guards, the Chogyal’s loyal soldiers.
Gokhale writes an elaborate plan, and meticulous details, were drawn up for justifying the disarming of the Sikkim guards. “The scheme is a classic example of what the R&AW could and can do when required,” he writes.
The Sikkim guards were to be disarmed on the April 8 or 9, 1975, but before that public meetings and processions were planned in Gangtok demanding removal of the Sikkim guards, complete merger with India and removal of the Chogyal.
The R&AW stated in its plan that “In case the Chogyal asks for asylum, he should be moved to the India House. After some time, he may be shifted to a suitable guest house about 15- 20 miles outside Gangtok…” (In a different context, Sheik Hasina is housed in Delhi).
Gokhale writes that Kazi wrote two letters to the Indian representatives; the first asking the Sikkim guards to be disarmed, and the second requesting for an emergency session of the Sikkim Assembly. Both were executed as per the script.
In April elections, Kazi won with landslide victory, winning 31 of 32 seats. He got a new act — The Government of Sikkim Act, 1974, — passed in the assembly, giving Sikkim the status of an associate state.
Three battalions of Indian army brigade, led by Brig (later Lt Gen) Depinder Singh were deployed. “Troops marched to the palace and despite one sentry at the gate resisting (he was shot dead), it took less than 20 minutes for the Indian Army to disarm the Sikkim guards. The Chogyal was furious but was helpless,” Gokhale writes. By May 15, Sikkim officially became the 22nd state of India.
India never coveted other’s territory, we are told, nor its army ever used for that purpose. See how Wikipedia, in a detailed article with over 170 References, documented it:
“In 1975, the Prime Minister of Sikkim Kazi Lhendup Dorjee, appealed to the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi for Sikkim to become a state of India. In April of that year, the Indian Army took over the city of Gangtok and disarmed the Chogyal’s palace guards. Thereafter, a referendum was held in which 97.5 per cent of voters supported abolishing the monarchy, effectively approving union with India. India is said to have stationed 20,000–40,000 troops in a country of only 200,000 during the referendum. On 16th May, 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished.
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India’s neighbors, all of them, know these games(of Sikkimization) and hence waryMaldives experienced it latest. What is cooking in Bangladesh, PoK and Balochistan? They wonder. And fear.
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Facade of a Referendum, and Constitutional subterfuge
India is said to have stationed 20,000–40,000 troops in a country of only 200,000 during the referendum. And that ensured a whopping 97.5% voters wanted merger with India!
The 1973 May 8 agreement signed, under duress, by the Chogyal, Kewal Singh (the then foreign secretary) and parties led by Kazi, left the Chogyal with control only of Sikkim guards and the administration of the palace. However, “a bigger challenge awaited Kao, RAW chief, since Indira Gandhi had made it clear that she wanted a complete merger of Sikkim with India, and in the shortest time possible”. And it happened in May 1975. (Photo: wikimedia commons)
India always abhorred the very word Referendum in relation to Kashmir’s demand for self-determination. It passed an amendment to Article 370 to break the state. But in relation to Sikkim it held a farcical referendum under supervision of Indian Army. And passed two Amendments within 8 weeks whereby Sikkim disappeared from world map as in independent country.
“In an interview, then Agriculture Minister of Sikkim KC Pradhan recalled that the referendum was nothing but a charade. “Indian soldiers rigged the polls by pointing rifles at the hapless voters”, he said.
The then ADC to the King, Captain Sonam Yongda, claimed that soldiers of Indian Army in civil dress used to take part in the protests. Some of the protesters were brought from Darjeeling and the surrounding areas. The number of Sikkimese who took part in the protest was quite small. But that was enough.
The Chogyal of Sikkim was in his palace on the morning of 6 April 1975 when the roar of army trucks climbing the steep streets of Gangtok brought him running to the window. There were Indian soldiers everywhere, they had surrounded the palace, and short rapid bursts of machine gun fire could be heard. Basanta Kumar Chhetri, a 19-year-old guard at the palace’s main gate, was struck by a bullet and killed – the first casualty of the takeover. The 5,000-strong Indian force didn’t take more than 30 minutes to subdue the palace guards who numbered only 243. By 12:45 pm it was all over, Sikkim ceased to exist as an independent kingdom.
“Captured palace guards, hands raised high, were packed into trucks and taken away, singing: “Dela sil, li gi, gang changka chibso” (May my country keep blooming like a flower). But by then, the Indian tri-colour had replaced the Sikkimese flag at the palace where the 12th king of the Namgyal dynasty was held prisoner.”
Even Sikkimese political leaders who fought for the merger later said it was a blunder and worked to roll it back.¹ But by then, it was already too late.
Manipulated Constitution
Immediately after the referendum, Kazi Lhendup moved a motion in the parliament proposing that Sikkim be annexed to India. The 32-member parliament, which had 31 members from Lhendup’s SNC – passed the motion without a blink. One of the legislators said few of them knew English, in which all the drafts were written, and no translation was provided. Needless to say that the entire episode was being orchestrated by India.
In the 1974 Sikkim elections, the India-backed Sikkim Congress won a landslide victory. It used its majority to invite India to help write a new Constitution for Sikkim. (An Indian indeed did so.) This Constitution was opposed heavily by the Chogyal..He even tried to meet Indira Gandhi to stop the new Constitution… Gandhi refused to help and the Sikkim Assembly passed the Constitution. RAW’s operations then ended their final phase.
India’s Parliament moved quickly, and enacted the constitutional subterfuge. To enable the incorporation of the new state, the Indian Parliament amended the Indian Constitution. First, the 35th Amendment laid down a set of conditions that made Sikkim an “Associate State”, a special designation not used by any other state. Article 2A was inserted, that was wef 1975 March1.
Soon came the 36th Amendment that repealed the 35th Amendment, and made Sikkim a full state, adding its name to the First Schedule of the Constitution. This was wef 1975 April 26, and Art 2A was omitted, superseded within eight weeks!
Why such a hurry in making both amendments? That is beyond the scope of this article.
(for more visit: wikibharat.org/pages/sikkim_india_merger/)
How did the world view it all? Foreign Policy, an international magazine, recorded the decades-long efforts to undo Sikkim, under the caption, The Forgotten Kingdom. What colonial England avoided, India did:
“ On April 9, 1975, the Indian Army attacked and overran the Sikkim Guards, a small force of soldiers belonging to the kingdom of around 200,000. It was the latest in a series of maneuvers, by New Delhi, starting in 1973, that sought to integrate the tiny Himalayan nation, sandwiched between India and Tibet, into the Union. The Sikkim Guards were quickly defeated and disbanded and the Chogyal, or Sikkimese monarch, was put under house arrest. Roughly one month later, it became official..The annexation of Sikkim was the culmination of decades of uncertainty for the kingdom, which survived as an independent state throughout the British Raj periodbut faced tensions with a newly independent India.”
China opposed it, did not recognize Sikkim’s annexation. However, it relented and agreed for a compromise, for peace, even if piecemeal. That was when it agreed with Vajpayee-led India, in June 2003, for reconciling differences: Vajpayee regime agreed “Tibet (TAR) autonomous region is part of” PRC. China tacitly agreed Sikkim as part of India. Modi’s India emulates Nehru and Indira, not Vajpayee and Morarji.
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It was a ‘RAW’ job, combining Machiavelli and Chanakya
Secular Indira Gandhi used Hindu card in Sikkim, as she did later in 1983 in Jammu elections.
“ The strategists of RAW didn’t want to repeat a Bhutan in Sikkim. Bhutan managed to acquire the membership of the United Nations by 1971 Sep. So the RAW launched a movement under the leadership of Kazi Lhendup Dorjee, which is described at great length by Ashok Raina in his book, Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service. It was once secretive: Now the media controlled by Modi regime is full of its heroics, including assassinations abroad by ‘unknown’ persons.
RAW an Indian agency set up, with soviet help, during Indira regime, had learnt from the superior, imperialist agencies like KGB, CIA, MI-6, BND and the Mossad, and mastered the art of conspiracies, destabilization and regime change, by means fair and foul.
Raina corroborates what other sources revealed, and added more. Why all countries in South Asia suspect and fear India and its RAW hands can well be understood.
Ashok Raina reveals that New Delhi had taken the decision to annex Sikkim as early as in 1971, and that the RAW used the next two years to create the right conditions within Sikkim to make that happen. The key here was to use the predominantly-Hindu Sikkimese of Nepali origin who complained of discrimination from the Buddhist king and manipulated the elite to revolt.
“RAW was given a virtual carte blanche to conduct destabilization operations in neighboring countries, seen by New Delhi as inimical to India. RAW was given a list of seven countries (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Pakistan and Maldives) for its operations. “It very soon systematically and brilliantly crafted covert operations in all these countries to coerce, destabilize and subvert them in consonance with the foreign policy objectives of the Indian Government.”
The British imperialists used religious and ethnic divisions to stabilize their Empire. The new rulers of India inherited all the Machiavellian tricks of colonial powers.The nationalist Modi regime adds all the ruthless dirty tricks of Kautilya/ Chanakya of the feudal era.
Raina sums up: “RAW over the years has admirably fulfilled its tasks of destabilizing target states..The India Doctrine spelt out a difficult and onerous role for RAW. It goes to its credit that it has accomplished its assigned objectives..”
We confined here to RAW’s role in annexation of Sikkim.
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Indira the autocrat was fighting against feudalism in Sikkim!
America promoted its imperialist interests in the name of democracy. India too tried to wield the democracy stick, as in Sikkim. After India got independence in 1947, the Sikkim State Congress, which was established as per the advice of Nehru, launched anti-King movement.” Sikkim and its king however survived. The status of Nepal sikkim and Bhutan was different from the princely kingdoms that acceded to India.
India made cartographic manipulations for its expansionisst ends. Nehru regime did it in relation to China, and destroyed most of the old maps. But it was caught. In relation to Sikkim also, during 1950s, one map showed it as independent; later another showed it as part of India. When questions were raised, the Foreign Minister told the parliament in 1967 that Sikkim is independent. India unilaterally manipulated maps in relation to Nepal too; later agreed to discuss the issue. Modi regime reneged on it, and Nepal changed the map by itself. LAC and LOC are reminders that borders were not settled 75 years of after 1947.
Here it may be mentioned that “democrat” Nehru incarcerated freedom fighter Sheik Abdullah for 11 long years (1953-64, plus 3years later): he can be called the Nelson Mandela of India. Abdullah was the chief leader who fought against Kashmir’s feudals. And Nehru regime drowned Telangana (1946-51) in blood, killing 4000 peasant activists led by communists, who were fighting the Nizam’s tyrannical feudal rule. The Nizam was rewarded later by Nehru with the ornamental post of Raj Pramukh (Governor-like) for years to come.
“Anti-feudal and Democrat” PM Nehru, as the Right-wing of Indian communist movement called him, toppled the first communist (EMS) ministry of Kerala in 1959; that came to power based on its anti-landlord movements, mainly in the Malabar, which smashed the grip of jenmis. “Progressive” Indira, as AICC leader, executed the “liberation” of Kerala from EMS rule. Similar was the case of Sikkim.
“Indira that is India” (and vice versa), as DK Baruah called her, acted against feudalism in Sikkim: The autocratic regime of Indira Gandhi claimed so. But that was only to justify its expansionism as in Sikkim. BS Das (IPS), was used as an Indian diplomat who handled Sikkim. He revealed the real purpose:
I was asked by the PM (Indira Gandhi) “to take over the charge of administration of Sikkim.” There the Chogyal’s (king Palden Thondup Namgyal’s ) rule was “feudalistic, the vast majority was dissatisfied”, and “the people were reaching the stage of revolt” against corruption and disparities.
Indira’s protege, Kaji Lhendup Dorjee , who “fought against feudalism and corruption for over two decades”, and who formed the first govt , faced a “total defeat” in the second Assembly elections held in 1979 (first was in 1974). That showed the farce of Referendum, and the fake struggle against feudalism led by Dorjee, himself a big feudal landlord, and representative of Kaji feudals.
(The Sikkim Saga 1983, By BS Das.) In his Preface of a book of 17 chapters, 7 Appendices, and 183 pages, Das, Ambassador to Bhutan in 1971, wrote the above lines. It is yet another primary source that exposed India’s expansionism, and its dirty job to annex Sikkim. Das wrote he was not in agreement with the methods adopted by Delhi.
The real reason was India’s strategic needs: “The Himalayan kingdoms (of Nepal Bhutan and Sikkim) were too sensitively placed to be ignored to the detriment of India’s security,” Das wrote.
“The anti-King movement, launched by the Sikkim National Congress (SNC) under the leadership of Lhendup Dorji in 1973, led to the demise of a sovereign nation, ” wrote an observer.
Facade of democracy
In 1973 Sikkimese general election was held amid allegations of vote rigging in South Sikkim. That was none of India’s business, and it was only an alibi: Rigging polls was nothing new for India, particularly for nearby UP or Bihar that were notorious for brazen booth-capturing and rigging polls.
And Congress captured West Bengal in 1972 polls, by outdoing the Left which had won and formed ministries in 1967 and 1969, by brazen methods including politics of murder. Indira regime and her private fascist goons led by Bengal Congress leaders drowned that state in blood in early 1970s. While the State’s armed forces suppressed Naxalbari armed peasant revolt against feudalism, the private armies of Congress (Chatra parishad) murdered hundreds of communists – both of CPM and Naxalites.
Congress perfected its means, fair and foul. So did their allies in Sikkim: Kazi-led Sikkim National Congress and Sikkim Janata Congress began fresh agitation, guided by RAW, for electoral reforms under “One Man One Vote” principle. Modi regime and the EC under him are notorious for their manipulations for winning at any cost.
Chogyal arrested Janata Congress President KC Pradhan on 27 March 1973. This led to mass protests against the Chogyal in Gangtok. A Joint Action Committee (JAC) was formed between Sikkim National Congress and Sikkim Janata Congress intensifying the agitation in Sikkim. The three senior most leaders of JAC, Kazi along with Nahakul Pradhan and B. B. Gurung were given shelter at the office of Indian Political Officer. And democracy movement was orchestrated by India and its RAW.
The Sikkim National Congress merged with India’s Congress Party in the 1970s following Sikkim’s annexation by India.
Is it democracy in international relations? Is it what is permitted by Panchsheel and NAM, which India and Indira Gandhi supposedly led? Was India free from feudalism and revolts?
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Dorjee’s Role: A friend of hegemonic India, and a “traitor of Sikkim”
Key among dramatis personae, Dorjee reveals it all; focus is on his own role.
Kazi Lhendup Dorjee (11 October 1904 – 28 July 2007), the first CM of Sikkim after it was annexed, died at the ripe old age of 103. The Chief Minister of Sikkim at the time, Pawan Kumar Chamling, called Dorjee a distinguished statesman who helped to motivate Chamling to join Sikkim’s democracy movement in 1973. It shows how Indian ruling classes cultivated leaders in other countries. Sheik Hasina’s case is a classic example.
Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India also issued a statement. Dorjee was earlier honoured by the government of India with the Padma Vibhushan in 2002.
But later, Dorjee understood his was a case of use and throw. PM Modi who addressed a Sikkim@50 rally did not even mention his name.
Outside India, and among Sikkim elite, it was a different assessment. An obituary was written by by Sudheer Sharma, the editor in chief of Kantipur, the largest selling daily newspaper in Nepal. The Nepali elite were the closest observers and they feared Sikkimization of Nepal. Among them is Baburam Bhatta Rai, former Maoist PM of Nepal, who had first hand experience of RAW, both as its friend and victim.
Sudheer Sharma, who interviewed Dorjee many times, wrote:
“ Dorji is seen as a ‘traitor’ in the contemporary history. He lived, and died, with the same ignominy. “Everybody accuses me of selling the country. Even if it is true, should I alone be blamed?” he asked me, when I met him in Kalimpong in November 1996. But the allegation of ‘betrayal’ towards one’s own motherland was so powerful that Dorji could no more lead an active political life.”
The Pain of losing a Nation, is the title of the article by Sharma. Main points and extracts from the article, given below, are self-explanatory:
“The last Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, Kazi Lhendup Dorji, met an ignominious Death.. He spent his solitary life at the ‘Chakung House’ in Kalimpong for several decades. Few people chose to remember Kazi when he passed away nor took pain to recall his life and times.
So much so that the Kazi was ignored even by Delhi. “I went out of my way to ensure the merger of Sikkim into India but after the work was done, the Indians just ignored me”, Kazi told me during an interview for Jana Astha weekly, nearly 11 years ago. “Earlier, I used to be given a ‘Red Carpet’ welcome. Now I have to wait for weeks even to meet second grade leaders.”
“When I visited Kalimpong for the second time in 2000”, Sharma wrote, “Lhendup’s anger towards Delhi had reached new heights. At one time, he was received warmly by Indian leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi. But later he became a political actor whose utility had been finished and thrown away into the dustbin.”
“Lhendup’s protest movement depended mainly on Indian financial assistance. The money was made available through Intelligence Bureau (IB). “The people from IB used to visit me twice or thrice a year. An IB agent, Tejpal Sen, used to handover money to me personally”, Dorji had told Sharma n a recorded interview.
Lhendup – who belonged to the Kazi family – had a historic enmity with Sikkim’s ruling Chogyals. RAW exploited such fissures and forces everywhere..
Lhendup was forced to lead a solitary life. He neither had any children nor relatives to take care of him. He cut himself off from his own people to avoid their wrath and hatred.
How popular was the movement led by him? Was it genuine? Indian democracy sees miracles, with or without EVMs. Once merged, Sikkim too experienced it:
“In the elections held in 1979, Lhendup’s SNC (that won 31 out of 32 seats earlier) failed to bag even a single seat in the Sikkim’s legislature. This effectively brought to an end to his political career. At one time, when he had gone to file his nomination, his name was missing from the electoral roll. In his resolve to dethrone the Chogyal dynasty that had 400-year-old history in Sikkim, Lhendup ended up delivering his motherland into the lap of India. In return, all he got was a life haunted from the shadow of the past and an ignominious death.”
(Sudheer Sharma is the editor in chief of ‘Kantipur’, the largest selling daily newspaper in Nepal.
( for his full story, visit darjeeling-unlimited.com/losing.html)
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Sikkim’s was a story of deceit and betrayal of a small neighbor, with a population of only two lakhs in 1970s. It was a text book case of how Indian expansionism worked. It was well documented, but Indian democracy saw to it they were buried, least discussed.
“Annexation” of Sikkim, as PM Morarji called it, was an event that shocked and struck fear among India’s neighbors, and enriched the lexicon with a new term Sikkimization in international politics. It was a process of Smash and Grab that described the hegemonic policies of India, the Big Brother, with expansionist ambitions, never satiated. Ajit Doval who was an young officer then had a role in Sikkim, and learnt his ropes. Now post-retirement, the wise-old Chanakya heads NSA, and closely assists the PM Modi, to whom he reports. What is cooking in POK, Balochistan and Bangladesh? Is it going to be a RAW deal for them? Time only tell.
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Appendix : Vallabhbhai Patel’s Letter to Nehru, 1950
Patel wrote on Telangana, dangers from Communists, “disloyal Northeast” and mentioned Sikkim, to be handled.
Sikkim was adjoining the “chicken neck” that joined India with the Northeast where ethnic armed struggles (of Nagas Mizos etc) for independence were ongoing. Just south of the ‘chicken neck’, the narrow Siliguri corridor of 20-22 kms, was Darjeeling district where Naxalbari was aflame with anti-feudal revolt, which was spreading into Bihar too.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), then Home Minister wrote a letter (of November 7, 1950) to PM Nehru five weeks before his death on Dec 15. He warned Nehru about so-called dangers from China and communists. It is revealing that he linked Telangana armed struggle with Northeast and Sikkim in particular
Extracts are given below:
“ Instead of having to deal with isolated communist pockets and Telengana and Warangal we may have to deal with communist threats to our security along our northern and north-eastern frontiers, where, for supplies of arms and ammunition, they can safely depend on communist arsenals in China…It is also clear that the action will havpe to be fairly comprehensive, involving not only our defence strategy and state of preparations but also problem of internal security to deal with which we have not a moment to lose..”
“The danger from the north and north-east, therefore, becomes both communist and imperialist…“ Let us also consider the political conditions on this potentially troublesome frontier.
“ Our northern and north-eastern approaches consist of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, the Darjeeling (area) and tribal areas in Assam. From the point of view of communication, there are weak spots. Continuous defensive lines do not exist…The contact of these areas with us is by no means close and intimate. The people inhabiting these portions have no established loyalty or devotion to India; even the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas are not free from pro-Mongoloid prejudices. During the last three years we have not been able to make any appreciable approaches to the Nagas and other hill tribes in Assam.
“In Sikkim, there was political ferment some time ago. It is quite possible that discontent is smouldering there. Bhutan is comparatively quiet, but its affinity with Tibetans would be a handicap. Nepal has a weak oligarchic regime ..I am sure the Chinese and their source of inspiration, Soviet Union would not miss any opportunity of exploiting these weak spots, partly in support of their ideology and partly in support of their ambitions…
“ Hitherto, the Communist party of India has found some difficulty in contacting communists abroad, or in getting supplies of arms, literature, etc., from them…Instead of having to deal with isolated communist pockets and Telengana and Warangal we may have to deal with communist threats to our security along our northern and north-eastern frontiers, where, for supplies of arms and ammunition, they can safely depend on communist arsenals in China. The whole situation thus raises a number of problems on which we must come to early decision so that we can, as I said earlier, formulate the objectives of our policy and decide the method by which those objectives are to be attained. It is also clear that the action will have to be fairly comprehensive, involving not only our defence strategy and state of preparations but also problem of internal security to deal with which we have not a moment to lose. We shall also have to deal with administrative and political problems in the weak spots along the frontier to which I have already referred.
It is of course, impossible to be exhaustive in setting out all these problems. I am, however, giving below some of the problems which in my opinion, require early solution and round which we have to build our administrative or military policies and measures to implement them.
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Ramakrishnan is a political observer who regularly contributed to the countercurrents.org. His series India’s expansionism in relation to Nepal were published earlier.
“Nepal map runs into Parliament wall” : Who built this wall? India! (29/05/2020)
https://countercurrents.org/2020/05/nepal-map-runs-into-parliament-wall-who-built-this-wall-india/
See also :India-Nepal Embittered Relations : Much beyond a Border Dispute (26/05/2020)
https://countercurrents.org/2020/05/india-nepal-embittered-relations-much-beyond-a-border-dispute/
