Gangtok, December 3: Sikkim Governor Om Prakash Mathur announced on Wednesday that Raj Bhavan has now been renamed as ‘Lok Bhavan’. This change was made after a direction from the Union Home Ministry on November 25. The Governor said that the new name will be used from now onwards for all official work. He also said that this step will help make the place more open and friendly for the people, and will strengthen democratic values.
Many years ago, after the
Sikkim Expedition in 1888, the British government appointed John Claude White
as the first Political Officer of Sikkim in 1889. He loved Sikkim and decided
to build a beautiful residence there. This building later became known as Raj
Bhavan. He chose the site himself and wrote about the experience in his 1909
book.
After Claude White, many
British officers lived and worked there, including Sir Charles Bell, Major W.L.
Campbell, Lt. Colonel W.F. O’Conner, Major F.M. Bailey, Major J.L.R. Weir,
Frederick Williamson, Sir Basil Gould and Anthony J. Hopkinson. (three officers
– David McDonald, Capt. R.K.M. Battye and H. Richardson also held the post
temporarily. Anthony J. Hopkinson was the last British Political Officer before
India became independent in 1947.
After independence, the building became the home of the Indian Political Officer and was known as Burra Kothi. It remained an essential place until 1975. Today, under its new name, Lok Bhavan represents the people and democracy.
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