SIKKIM OBSERVER  Saturday January 10-16, 2015

GORKHA PARTY TO PRESS FOR SIKKIM-DARJEELING MERGER

Darjeeling-Gangtok march in January

Gangtok, Jan 9: Focusing on its demand for separation from ‘Bengal’ Darjeeling’s Gorkha Rashtriya Congress (GRC) is expected to raise its pitch for Darjeeling’s unification with Sikkim.

  To pressure the concerned authorities and with a view to creating public awareness on the issue of Sikkim-Darjeeling merger GRC has plans to lead a padayatra to Gangtok this month.

Declaring its intentions on the issue GRC leaders said in Siliguri earlier this week that the Sikkim Government had already issued a white paper stating that Darjeeling belonged to Sikkim.

“Since 2004 we have been demanding the unification of Darjeeling district and Sikkim. But to press for demand for the first time we are going to organize ‘padayatras’ this month,” GRC spokesperson Pramoskar Blone said.

The route of the march from Darjeeling to Gangtok is through Rongpo and Singtam, the organizers said.

GRC’s focus on its merger demand comes at a time when Darjeeling politicians have given a call on formation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Amit Patro, Anita Niraula get ‘Investigative Journalism’ award

(L to R) Santosh Bardewa, Amit Patro, CD Rai and Rudra Poudyal.

Gangtok, Jan 9: Sikkim Express editor Amit Patro and senior All India Radio (AIR) newsreader Anita Niraula bagged the Investigative Journalism Award, constituted by Himalchuli Group of Tourism Industries (HGTI) in the name of Late Shova Rai (Bardewa).

CD Rai, advisor of the Press Club of Sikkim, presented the award comprising citation, shawl and cash at a function held here on Tuesday. This is the first time the award has been conferred.

The award was constituted in memory of Late Shova Rai, the wife of HGTI Chairman, Santosh Bardewa. HGTI Chairman, who was present on the occasion, said his late wife was a source of inspiration to him in his writing career.

(L to R) Santosh Bardewa, Anita Niraula, CD Rai and Rudra Poudyal.

While Niraula was conferred the award for her recent book, Black and White Sikkim-ma Sangeet Bhitra-Haru, the award went to Patro for his paper’s report on drug trafficking in the State.

Prominent among those present during the function were former chief secretary Sonam Wangdi, senior advocate Udai P. Sharma, Dr. Uttam Pradhan (STNM), Chunilal Ghimiray, President of Sikkim Kalakar Sangh, and noted Nepali writer Rudra Poudyal.

High-level panel on NE border vigil

New Delhi, Jan 9: The Centre has decided to constitute a high-powered committee to review border security and management following last month's massacre by the NDFB (Songbijit) in Assam which has brought international borders into sharp focus.

The BJP government proposes to set up a six-member committee, headed by secretary (border management) Sneh Lata Kumar. Top home ministry and intelligence officials, including joint intelligence committee chairman R.N. Ravi, will be on board.

The committee's role will be to recommend measures to prevent infiltration and suggest methods for better border management, The Telegraph reported.

Each of the eight northeastern states, including Sikkim, has an international border with Tibet (China), Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

Nepal party demands country’s return to Hindu nation

Kathmandu, Jan 9: Nepal's pro-Hindu party last week asserted that no one could stop the country from turning back into a Hindu nation and accused politicians of advocating secularism under the influence of the West.

"No one can stop from turning the country into a Hindu state," claimed Kamal Thapa, the president of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), while addressing a rally of about 10,000 people in Kathmandu. The rally was organised on the conclusion of a nationwide 10-day-long 'rath yatra' for reinstating Nepal as a Hindu nation, PTI reported.

The party concluded the 1,900-km-long Mechi–Mahakali Rath Yatra that began on December 25 from far-east to far-west region of the country. He claimed that the political leaders have been advocating secularism under the influence of western money by misleading the people. Nepal was converted into a secular state from a Hindu nation in 2008 through a Parliament declaration following the abolition of monarchy from the country.

"The new constitution should ensure the identity of a Hindu nation for Nepal," Thapa said.

"When there are more than 40 Muslim countries and over 70 Christian countries, why can't Nepal become a Hindu state in today's world which is home to over 1.8 billion Hindus," asked Thapa. He also asked political parties to make serious efforts to promulgate the new constitution within the stipulated date of January 22.

The RPP-N organised the nationwide 'rath yatra' to exert pressure to reinstate the nation as a Hindu state. He also demanded a provision be made to ban cow slaughtering in the new constitution.

Sikkim’s Chewang Lama aims high in motorsport race

“Car racing has been my passion since childhood”

Gangtok, Jan 9: Sikkim’s Chewang Lama has been selected by Buddh International Circuit (BIC) to undergo training in car racing in New Delhi.

If the training goes well Chewang (25) could be selected for this year’s Polo R Cup tournament. He is already in touch with  the organizers, Volkswagen Motorsport,  for the tourney and the response is “overwhelming”, says Chewang, son of Udai Lama and Rahna Rai of Gangtok and an alumnus of Tashi Namgyal Academy (TNA).

What impressed BIC officials and trainers was the manner in which Chewang performed during his training session. Doing a lap timing of 2.44 flat at BIC is something unusual for a guy who had no formal training. He drove like a pro and this stunned BIC officials.

Chewang is currently under training at BIC (Delhi), the only Formula1 track in India, under the guidance of Anmol Rampal, who is a pro-racer and test driver for Honda, Mahindra etc to foreign companies s like Mercedes, BMW etc.

The Buddh International Circuit is an Indian motor racing circuit in Greater Noida near Delhi.

The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula One Indian Grand Prix, which was first hosted on  October, 30, 2011.

Selection for Polo R Cup 2015 is likely to take place in February-March this year and going by his current performance Chewang’s chances are high. "This guy can do wonders,” is what his coach had to say when asked for a feedback.

The organizers saw at least 20,000 spectators turn up for the event last year and are hoping to increase that number this year. The champion of the season this year also gets to participate in international motorsport at the Volkswagen Scirocco-R Cup in Germany.

One of the main objectives of Volkswagen Polo R Cup competition is to groom a grid full of Indian drivers, select the best of them, and chart out a clear career path for him or her internationally.

“Car racing has been a passion, a dream since childhood,” says Chewang.

His turning point was when he did the Chennai's kart track in 20.50 sec without any prior experience. It was his first race in a proper track. The record of the track, set by a professional race car driver, stands at 19 sec.

 Chewang also recently attended Raymond Banerjee's race session in Pune, where he impressed the officials as well as the owner.

Kolkata college student trekker missing in West Sikkim

Kolkata, Jan 9: A 23-year-old student of South City College in Kolkata has gone missing during a trek in West Sikkim. Biswadeep Acharya was on his way from Yuksom to Dzongri when he went missing somewhere near Bakhim.

Acharya reached Yuksom on December 25 and tied up with a group that included three other trekkers — one from Rajasthan and one each from Germany and Italy. Acharya, who lives in Rajdanga, left Yuksom on December 27 and went missing after trekking for nearly 15km. His relatives have reached Yuksom to search for Acharya. His sister Debashree appealed to the governments of West Bengal and Sikkim to send in better-equipped rescue teams.

According to Dhanraj Gurung, managing director of Red Panda Tours and Travels that organized the trek, Acharya sounded very confident and refused a guide. "He claimed that he had trekked the route in 2012 and could find his way. However, as per rules, I sent a guide along. Before he started, Acharya also submitted a written undertaking to the police that he is fit enough to trek. From what I have gathered, Acharya crossed the Prek Chu (River Prek) with the group and reached Bakhim. There, he told the others to proceed as he knew the route well and would catch up with them easily. He has been missing since. We have sent out rescue teams for the last four days but there is no trace of Acharya," Gurung told The Times of India from Yuksom.

Acharya's mother and eldest sister live in Sahibganj in Jharkhand. Debashree, who stays in Kolkata with him, said Acharya told her that he would start his trek from December 26. "He last spoke to me on December 25. After wishing me, he said that he would start his trek early the next day," Debashree said.

Sources revealed that the last phone call Acharya made to the guide on December 27 was from Tshoka, a few kilometres beyond Bakhim. He apparently told the guide he had lost his way. The guide reached Tshoka, but could not find Acharya. The phone was also switched off. This bit of information has foxed a senior officer of the Kolkata Police, an ace mountaineer himself, who has been assigned the case. According to the officer, Tshoka is a hamlet where people are extremely helpful. There is no way Acharya could have got lost had he managed to reach Tshoka, he feels.

Editorial

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER

Khangchendzonga, Take Care Of Him

 “Elsewhere, protectorates are graduating to independence and colonies are marching to freedom. In Sikkim, a protectorate is moving to "freedom within India" by annexation through constitutional legerdemain?” These words of BG Verghese in the editorial (entitled ‘Kanchenjunga, here we come’) column of The Hindustan Times, which he edited in 1974 cost him his job. It was during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister that Sikkim was “swallowed up in silence”. After backing anti-Sikkim and pro-India forces in Sikkim from early 1973 India’s influence in the internal affairs of the tiny Himalayan kingdom paved the way for Sikkim’s integration with the Indian Union from a protectorate to an Associate State in 1974 and finally as a full-fledged State in 1975.

   Verghese’s eloquent defense of Sikkim’s distinct international status did not stop those who were hell-bent bent on annexing Sikkim. But the truth about the ‘merger’ was made known to the world through the upright stand of one man. Noted journalist Sunanda K.Datta-Ray’s masterpiece, Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim, first published in 1984, confirmed Verghese’s critical views on Sikkim during this controversial period. The fact that even after four decades since the takeover the Sikkim issue is still alive confirms Verghese’s prediction: “No country or people voluntarily choose self-effacement, and the Indian Government is not going to be able to persuade the world that Sikkim's "annexation" to India represents the will of the Sikkimese people.”  He is no more now but today leading national dailies in India have showered praises to his principled stand on Sikkim. Khangchendzonga, take care of him.

After revision, Sikkim’s total voters is 3.77 lac

Gangtok, Jan 9: The electoral rolls of all the 32 Assembly Constituencies of Sikkim have been published by the District Collectors cum District Electoral Registration Officers of all the four districts on January 5, 2015, after the completion of the special summary revision of the electoral rolls with reference to 1.1.2015 as the qualifying date.    

    During the summary revision new eligible voters were enrolled in the voter list, names of dead/shifted voters were removed from the voters list, errors in the rolls were corrected and transfer of names from one location to another was also carried out by the Electoral Registration Officers.

After the disposal of all the applications received for addition/deletion/correction/transfer of names the final rolls as on 1.1.2015 have been published on 5.1.2015, an official release said.

As per the final rolls published, the total number of voters in Sikkim stands at 3,77,027, consisting of 1,93,758 male voters and 1,83,269 female voters. While the number of voters at the time of General Elections 2014 was 3,70,065, there has been a net addition of 6962 voters during the special summary revision  conducted in the months of October-November’2014.

BG VERGHESE A Tribute

‘Verghese was a man with the right blend of intellect, integrity’

He lost his job for criticizing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Sikkim’s annexation

New Delhi, Jan 9: Family members and friends remembered the life and values of renowned author and journalist B G Verghese, who passed away last week, at a condolence meeting held at the India International Centre here on Sunday.

The meeting, attended by eminent personalities like Kuldip Nayyar, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Soli Sorabjee, saw different people reflect on different facets of Verghese, former editor of The Indian Express and The Hindustan Times.

“I knew him well and for long. He was the right blend of intellect and integrity, and never compromised on his principles. He was a champion for the poor and downtrodden, and a man given to many causes,” said Sorabjee, former Attorney General of India, the Indian Express reported.

Calling him a “man of conviction”, veteran journalist H K Dua fondly remembered Verghese as a man “for the lost and the lonely”. “For him, people mattered more than boundaries and countries. He wasn’t as concerned about physical boundaries as he was for the lost and the lonely. Lately, two things bothered him the most: the climate of intolerance that seems to have gripped this country, and the phenomenon of paid news,” Dua said.

   Aged 87, Verghese died at his Gurgaon house on December 30. He was diagnosed with dengue a month ago and was suffering from low-grade fever and weakness for the last couple of weeks.

Verghese’s family, including his sons and grandchildren, also remembered his life and times. “He was a quiet man, and a humble one, and we probably learnt more about him from his books, than himself. He taught us that the pen is mightier than the sword, and that actions speak louder than words,” said Rahul, Verghese’s son.

“He was a man given to larger causes, and most of the time, he was out saving the world. He was unassuming, quiet, intelligent — a gentleman with a gentle spirit, and that is how we will always remember him,” said his other son Vijay.

A Magsaysay Award winner and Information Adviser to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Verghese was born in Maymyo, Burma, now known as Pyin U Lwin, Myanmar, in 1926. He studied at Doon School, Dehradun, and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, before getting a Master's Degree from Trinity College, Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He began his journalism with The Times of India.

He is remembered for his editorial titled “Kanchenjunga, here we come” in Hindustan Times after Sikkim merged with India in 1975. In the editorial, Verghese had called the operation “less than proper.” He had to leave Hindustan Times after that due to his criticism of Gandhi.

In the wilderness, he worked with the Gandhi Peace Foundation. He was Gandhian in many ways; he worked for the downtrodden, Dalits, tribals, children and all those neglected by the society.

In his later years, he was associated with the Centre for Policy Research and The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).

He began his career as an assistant editor at The Times of India soon after he returned on graduating from the University of Cambridge. He rose in his career and became the editor of two leading national dailies - The Hindustan Times and later, The Indian Express.

In both, he shone as an editor, where he built his reputation as an independent-minded editor-- a man of integrity and character.

Then he joined the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi’s premier think-tank, and wrote several books after diligent research that he was famous for.

One of his seminal books was titled, Waters of Hope. His view was that if waters of South Asia’s rivers are used by all countries in the region, then one-fifth of humanity in this part of the globe will no longer have to live in poverty.

He loved India’s Northeast and wrote about its neglect by the rest of the country; leading to the alienation of its people, anger and insurgency there.  His book called, Resurgent North-East, became an authentic study of the region’s problems. (also see edit on page 2)

Kanchenjunga, here we come

By B. G. Verghese

On the occasion of his passing away Sikkim Observer reproduces the full text of BG Verghese’s controversial editorial in  The Hindustan Times (‘Kanchenjunga, here we come’, August 30, 1974), which while speaking up against India’s annexation of Sikkim cost him his job as Editor of The Hindustan Times:

   If it is not outright annexation, it comes close to it. To suggest anything less would be self-deception and compounding dishonesty with folly. Sikkim is to be reduced from a protectorate to a colony through nominal representation in the Indian Parliament. To what end? What deep seated urge of the Sikkimese people is this intended to satisfy? Sikkim is not territorially part of India (Article 1(2). Constitutionally it is a foreign country which cannot be represented in the "Parliament for the Union (of India)" as specified in Article 79. It can only seek such representation if it merges with India under Article 1(3)(c) and becomes an integral part of the Union. If this is ruled out, as suggested for the time being, then the Constitution will have to be amended to provide for extra-territorial Sikkimese representation in Parliament, wether as members or as an inferior species of "observers". And what will these two Sikkimese "observers" in either House do? Will they vote? And will their "representation" entitle the Indian Parliament to debate and discuss and vote on any or every aspect of the governance of Sikkim? If it does, then what happens to the separate "identity" and "personality" of Sikkim which the Government is rumoured to wish to defend? If it does not, then what purpose from the Indian side does Sikkimese "representation" serve, unless it be a thin cover for genteel annexation without representation - to be followed by annexation later if necessary. Elsewhere, protectorates are graduating to independence and colonies are marching to freedom. In Sikkim, a protectorate is moving to "freedom within India" by annexation through constitutional legerdemain?

    Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal (file pix)

  The worst suspicions about the manner in which the protector has seduced his helpless and inoffensive ward, with some genuine and much synthetic drama, will now find confirmation. No country or people voluntarily choose self-effacement, and the Indian Government is not going to be able to persuade the world that Sikkim's "annexation" to India represents the will of the Sikkimese people. Indeed, this issue has never been placed before them. It was not the basis of, nor did it even have any remote connection with, the movement against the Chogyal which was aimed at democratisation of the local administration. Nor was it subsequently an election issue. The reference to Sikkim's desire for closer political association with India was written into the recent Government of Sikkim Act, drafted with Indian assistance under Indian supervision and, who can blame the critic for assuming, possibly not without some little Indian blandishments or tutoring.

   The Government will no doubt argue that it is responding to the "popular wishes" of the people of Sikkim. This can be dismissed for the nonsense it is. The extraordinary haste with which the proposal is sought to be rushed through Parliament and the country in the form of a major and fundamental constitutional amendment, without any prior preparation or consultation, itself suggests some hidden motive. Others will defend the decision in terms of realpolitik. It will be urged that Sikkim was no different from the former Indian princely states; that the Maharajah of Sikkim took his seat in the Chamber of Princes and was entitled to an appropriate gun salute; that he even thought in terms of accession to India in 1947; and that it was Nehru's foolish romanticism that prevented integration at that time. And even if he thought idealistically of a series of buffer states (including Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet) along the Himalaya, the basis for that policy collapsed with China's annexation of Tibet in 1950-51. Therefore, this argument runs on, there is every reason for India to seize the present opportunity to accomplish in a manner of speaking in 1974 what it failed to do in 1947. Security considerations and largely inaccurate factors of history and kinship might be evoked to gild this "historical" justification. But this is hardly likely to carry conviction outside South Block though some chauvinistic elements in Indian society, loyal Congressmen under a three-line whip and some others may dutifully applaud. The strengthening of the "Sikkim connection" may be held up as a triumph of statesmanship and diplomacy. But this would be without counting the cost.

   What does India gain from this? Security? But this is already ensured by the Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1949. Goodwill? Whose? The Bhutia-Lepcha population quite clearly does not want integration with India; and it would be an extraordinary quirk of human nature if the Nepali majority in Sikkim is agitating to subordinate its natural and native Nepali nationalism to a more distant and alien Indian nationalism. Those resentful toward full integration with India will now have no choice other than to turn to China which has already given notice of its disinclination to accept any change in the principality's "separate identity and political status" through any form of "Indian expansionism." Do the Indian people want this union? It is utterly presumptuous on the part of the Government to bring forward a Constitutional Amendment Bill a few days before the conclusion of a fortuitously extended session of Parliament without any prior notice or move to elicit public opinion. The matter was not even mentioned in passing when both Houses debated foreign affairs only a few weeks ago. The Nepalese Foreign Minister expressed concern over developments in Sikkim barely a fortnight ago and the Government of Bhutan and even the ethnic minorities inhabiting the peripheral regions of north-eastern India may have cause for anxiety and concern over the de facto political extinction of a small but established principality. The country has a right to know whether the "annexation" of Sikkim is part of a larger frontier policy that is proposed to be spelt out or whether it is an isolated aberration.

   Far from doing it any good, this decision - and the underlying tendency it represents - is going to bring India insecurity, unrest and international opprobrium. Congressmen as much as members of the Opposition have a duty to question and oppose the betrayal of the true long term interests and ideals of the nation for illusory gain. Only the most blind or cynical will derive any satisfaction over the sorry progression of the Indian presence in Sikkim from that of friend to master. The crusading zeal and decisiveness that the Government displays over Sikkim has not been available for tackling the far more urgent problems and mounting crises at home. Perhaps no need for the common man to ask for bread. He's getting Sikkim. (The Hindustan Times August 30, 1974)