A comprehensive account of the history of Sikkim since 1947, that lays to rest any suggestion of the forcible annexation of the state | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

A comprehensive account of the history of Sikkim since 1947, that lays to rest any suggestion of the forcible annexation of the state | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Deb Mukharji |Updated: June 23, 2019 8:01:03 am

A comprehensive account of the history of Sikkim since 1947, that lays to rest any suggestion of the forcible annexation of the state

Jawaharlal Nehru granted special status to Sikkim in 1947, overriding Vallabhbhai Patel and BN Rau, who equated Sikkim with other members of the Chamber of Princes.

Indira Gandhi with Sikkim King Palden Thondup Namgyal and his wife in New Delhi in February 1966. (Express Archive)

Palden Thondup Namgyal, the 12th and last Chogyal of Sikkim, would complain bitterly to his Indian friends, “Why are they doing this? They’ve got everything already! What more can India possibly want?” And his friends would believe that agents of the government of India were doing their utmost to wreck the administration of a benevolent king. Accounts of Sunanda K Datta-Ray and others of similar views have kept alive the late Chogyal’s lament, with Indira Gandhi cast in the role of a successor to British imperialism. This is grist to the mill of those in Nepal constantly cautioning about the Sikkimisation of Nepal (however different the circumstances).