Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

 Extracted from Major General (retd) Ashok K Mehta' The truth about Sikkim In 1975, the itinerant immigrants from Nepal organized yet another takeover. On April 9, in a swift and sudden military operation that left many mental scars among the Bhutias especially, the Indian Army deployed on Nathu La, the watershed in Sikkim since 1963, took over the Chogyal's palace by disarming the Royal Sikkim Guards, ironically officered by the Indian Army, and seizing the royal armory. The Chogyal was drinking his favourite Remy Martin when the commandant of the Royal Sikkim Guards, Lt Col K S Gurung, announced the surrender. Mr. John Lall and Sunanda K Datta Ray have written about 1975, but two stories can be added. First, the officer leading the assault on the palace and the major defending the Chogyal were the Jagota brothers, one from the Jat Regiment and the other from the Gurkha Regiment. The two had orders to act in the best traditions of the Indian Army. The second epis...

Today holds a special place in the history of Sikkim as it was on this day that mass agitation against the Chogyal rule took off, which led to the downfall of the monarchy rule in Sikkim.  The agitation was a result “ due to serious differences which ensued with the demand of repoll in one booth by Kazi Lhendup Dorji and Mr. Krishna Chandra Pradhan, as such the Chogyal had to face the people's agitation launched by the Joint Action Committee with the tacit blessings of the Government of India.  This people's political movement, spearheaded by Kazi Lhendup Dorji, finally resulted in Sikkim joining the mainstream as the 22nd State of India in 1975 (sikkiminfo.net)". I was going through an article, " Lesson of Democracy from Sikkim, " by Carleton Cole, that recapitulates the movement of the April 73 Agitation.   Cole writes, " In April 1973, after making allegations that a round of elections had been rigged in favor of the Bhutia, thus making ethnic Nepali...