Experiments in Perfidy
©Prakash Joao Maskaren.
It is not only the EIP (Goa &c.) that is the victim of the perfidy and aggrandization of the Indian Union - even Sikkim is. Like with the Kingdom of Hawai'i, Sikkim was annexed at gunpoint by the armed force of a neighbour, and using a treacherous immigrant community. Today, the same process is being used upon the Kingdom of Bhutan...
The ancient Kingdom of Sikkim lies to the east of Newar, Mithila, north of Bengal and Kamptha, west of Bhutan and south of Tibet.
Sikkim was founded by the Mongoloid Lepcha ethnic group. However, latter, the Bhutia ethnic group of Tibet began to invade and colonize the country. After nearly six centuries of conflict and strife, the two ethnic groups came to a modus vivendi and combined, thus founding the modern Kingdom of Sikkim, under the Namgyal dynasty, in 1642 A.D.
The Kingdom came under the consecutive domination of Tibet, Nepal and England, and its boundaries changed accordingly, for which reason, the boundaries of the ethnic homeland of the Sikkimese (Lepcha-Bhutia) people does not actually coincide with that of the Kingdom: the ethnic homeland is much larger, and includes Southern Sikkim or the Indian Union territories of Kalimpong - Darjiling, and Western Sikkim - which was annexed by the Gorkha Empire and thus forms the eastern part (eastern Montanas; the eastern plains is North Mithila) of the modern Kingdom of Nepal.
The Bhutia dominated areas to the east of Sikkim was unified about a century ago, under the active instigation of the English, to form the Kingdom of Drukyul or Bhutan.
Some centuries earlier, following the collapse of the suzerain Mughal Empire, the various petty kingdoms of the Himalayan Montanas (Baiyul, Newar, Gorkha, Hamla, Mustang, etc. ) had successfully thrown off the yoke of the provincial subedars (governors) of the plains provinces (Bihar, Bengal, Awadh, etc.), who had raised themselves to the dignity of independent Kings.
Taking advantage of the chaos and instability, the Kingdom of Gorkha, under its comparatively newly established dynasty of the Rajput Sahas, of Hun descent and refugees from the Muslim conquest of their ancestral kingdom in the plains and deserts of Western India — the Rajputana — began a brutal campaign to conquer its neighbours both to its east and to its west. Overrunning the larger, more prosperous and ancient Kingdom of Newar (belonging to the ancient and renowned dynasty of the Mallahs) to their east, the Gorkhas renamed their Empire 'Nepal' - which is a corruption of the name Newar.
At its height, the Gorkha Empire included directly or indirectly, as a paramount power, the entire Kingdom of Sikkim, (including West Sikkim and South Sikkim), and the modern Indian Union provinces of Uttaranchal and Himanchal. Coming into conflict with the English, who were expanding at the same time, the Gorkha Empire was forced to cede the territories of Uttaranchal, Himanchal, Sikkim and South Sikkim, etc., to English paramountcy, while being allowed to retain West Sikkim. The English annexed South Sikkim and constituted the rest as the Kingdom of Sikkim, ironically giving the ruler of this vastly reduced territory, the title of Maharaja or Great King.
Under English paramountcy, the Gorkhas and other ethnic communities of the Gorkha Empire ('Nepal') were actively encouraged by the English to colonize Sikkim and South Sikkim (Darjiling - Kalimpong). The immigrant Gorkhas colonists gave the country its more common name of Sikkim, that is, Su-khim = the New Country. (It's official name, as far as I can ascertain it, is Baiyul = the Hidden Kingdom. Bhutan's is Drukyul = the Dragon Kingdom.)
The project of colonizing the Dooars, Terais and Montanas of the Eastern Himalayas progressed so well, that the colonists began to probe further, into Drukyul or Bhutan.
Under English paramountcy, and latter, under that of the Indian Union, the 'Nepalese' immigrants from the Gorkha Empire came to so dominate the demography of Baiyul that they demanded 'democracy' - an euphemism for control of the state. In the period 1973-75, with the active assistance of the Indian Union, the 'Nepalese' formed a 'Joint Action Committee' to organize a 'People's Movement.'
This joint conpiracy between the territorial-aggrandists and imperialists of the Indian Union and the Nepalese colonists in Sikkim, successfully precipitated, according to their plans, the country into a state of anarchy.
Using this as the pretext, the Indian Union staged a 'Coup d'Etat' on 8th April, 1975. Valiantly overwhelming the lightly armed Sikkim Guards composed of some 300 men and officered by Indian Army officers on deputation, the forces of the Indian Union kidnapped the King, confined him to his palace and forced him to accede, under duress, to the Indian Union.
To legitimise its barefaced robbery — its criminal actions, the Indian Union organized a 'Referendum' in late 1975, whose result was a foregone conclusion, with the demographic (but not civil) majority of the 'Nepalese' colonists voting to join the Indian Union. The Indian Union then annexed the Kingdom and converted it into its 22nd 'state' (province).
In the present set-up, the ethnic Sikkimese (Lepcha-Bhutia) have been reduced to a small minority in their own country, and driven off into the margins. The domination of the colonists is complete.
However, the story does not end here, nor could it: The colonists could not be satisfied by this arrangement, and in fact, the movement continued and continues in the South Sikkim and in Bhutan.
In Bhutan, too, as in Sikkim, the colonists came to dominate the demography. To protect itself, Bhutan began to expel aliens without proper papers and to demand cultural assimilation to the Bhutanese people as a necessary condition for naturalization. This caused the larger number of the colonists to flee into neighbouring India, Sikkim and Nepal, from where they organize and sustain a terrorist, guerrilla effort aimed at overthrowing and 'Democratising' Bhutan.
A similar movement is under way in the South Sikkim. Under the leadership of the charismatic Subhas Ghisingh, the colonists have demanded their own province, realizing that they cannot get away with secession from the Indian Union. After a long and bloody agitation, the provincial government of West Bengal and the government of the Indian Union have agreed to a compromise with the colonists by creating for them the Gorkhaland Autonomous District Council.
'Gorkhaland' is a temporary, transitory set-up. When the effort at subverting Bhutan has progressed and succeeded, then the Nepalese colonists will arise and put away this compromise, and work for full-fledged rights - whether as a separate province (unlikely), or as a separate 'nation' (likely as a temporary measure) or by merging these areas into Nepal (most likely scenario).
In the same manner, when the time arrives, the colonists in Sikkim will arise and hotly contest the annexation by the Indian Union and will hypocritically resurrect and adopt the last King or Chogyal, Palden Namgyal, as an emblem of their rejection of the annexation. This will be only a ploy in order to bring about merger with Nepal.
The condition of the subject, aborigine peoples - Sikkimese and Bhutanese, in this greater Nepal set-up is left to the imagination.