Sikkim (A History of Intrigue and Alliance)

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Sikkim remains an enigma for most, with many misconceptions about its history and its merger with India in 1975. In this book, former diplomat Preet Mohan Singh Malik combines insights into the erstwhile kingdom's unique history with the intriguing story of how it became India's twenty-second state. He examines the often-fraught relationship between the Lepchas (Rongpas)-its original inhabitants-and the Bhutias, who are the people of Tibetan origin who established institutions of religion and governance, and founded the Namgyal dynasty that ruled the kingdom until it became a part of the Indian Union.

India's historical relationships with Tibet and China form a part of this narrative, covering, in particular, the many facets of British involvement in the Himalayan region during the colonial period, and strategic failures that were compounded by Jawaharlal Nehru's flawed Tibet policy.

For India today, Sikkim remains significant from a strategic point of view, given its proximity to Tibet and the crucial Siliguri Corridor that connects India's north-eastern states with the rest of the country. The author draws from extensive sources, including hitherto unknown archival material that he had access to while serving at India's political office to Sikkim and Bhutan in Gangtok in the late 1960s.

Preet Mohan Singh Malik has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service since 1962. He was posted in Gangtok from October 1967 to April 1970 at the political office for India to Sikkim and Bhutan. He has also served as India's ambassador to Bahrain, Cuba and Myanmar, as high commissioner to Tanzania with concurrent accreditation to the Seychelles, and Malaysia with concurrent accreditation to Brunei. He has worked at the permanent missions of India to the European office of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva where he was also a delegate to the Disarmament Conference and on the governing body of the International Labour Organization. He was a deputy permanent representative at the UN Mission in New York. He specialized in economic diplomacy, covering both bilateral and multilateral areas. He was a member-representing the ministry of external affairs-of both the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the steering committee on economic reforms chaired by the principal secretary to the prime minister (1992-95).

The geographical location of Sikkim makes it significant to the security of India, especially in the aftermath of the occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1950.

Historically,' Tibet had proffered no threat to the subcontinent and during the British Raj, it had effectively been cast in the role of a buffer state that ensured that neither the Chinese kingdom nor the Russian occupation of Central Asia posed a direct threat to India. The modelling of both Tibet and Afghanistan in the role of buffer states by Britain had helped in securing the western, northern and eastern frontiers of India.

This template was threatened in 1950 when a newly independent India was flanked on its northern frontiers by a Chinese-occupied Tibet that by implication threatened India's relations with the three Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim from a security perspective.

Of these three kingdoms, Sikkim was unique because it had, for all practical purposes been treated by the British as an Indian state-it was a member of the Chamber of Princes since 1922. In 1947, when India became independent and the process of merging the princely states with the Indian Union had been set in motion, the country was approached by a popularly led Sikkimese political leadership with the proposal that the kingdom of Sikkim also be merged with the Union of India. Prime Minister Nehru, who had taken over the responsibility for India's relations with the Himalayan states of Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim, persuaded the delegation from Sikkim to not press the issue, promising that the popular demands for participative democracy would be accommodated within the functioning of the state. This promise remained largely unfulfilled till India acceded to the referendum for abolition of monarchy and for merger with India in 1975.

**Contents and Sample Pages**