Too Unpolitical a Politician
In mid-June of 1979, Mr. Ram Chandra Paudyal, then the Forest Minister of Sikkim, on his way from Delhi to Gangtok was met by a government official at Rangpo, who politely informed him that the national flag needed to be removed from his VIP vehicle. “When I landed in Bagdogra from Delhi, I had possibly already been removed from the Kazi cabinet” he said, recalling the incident. His transgression? Questioning Chief Minister LD Kazi about Bill 79, which was being introduced to the Indian Parliament without consulting the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, and then traveling to Delhi to inquire about it. This bill was a precursor to the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1979, which abolished reserved seats for the Nepalese of Sikkimese origin, reserving 12 seats for BL, 2 for SC, 1 for Sangha, and declaring the remaining 17 as general seats.
As his VIP vehicle, now stripped of its national flag, moved towards Gangtok, Paudyal’s political journey had taken a drastic turn. He went on to challenge the reservation made under Bill 79, in court, claiming that the reservations were discriminatory and contravened the principles of fair representation outlined in the Indian constitution. At the grassroots level, this case is widely seen as his advocacy for the restoration of Nepali seats. Remember, under the Chogyal establishment, of the 31 territorial seats, 15 were allotted to Sikkimese Nepalis, with an additional seat for Scheduled Castes, who are also Nepalis.
However, the Supreme Court ruled against him in 1993 after a prolonged battle. Paudyal openly blamed the late NB Bhandari, the then Chief Minister, accusing him of using unfair tactics to defeat him in court. This failed legal endeavour exposed him to widespread criticism. While his petition obviously offended some, he defended his actions by stating that his core belief was to secure all state assembly seats for the Sikkimese, thereby preventing non-Sikkimese candidates from contesting in the general categories.
Paudyal was among the few Sikkimese politicians who advocated for full-fledged democracy and a constitutional monarchy. However, this was a non-option as the political battle, manipulated by the Indian government, revolved around the dichotomy of either democracy under the Indian republic or a monarchy under the Chogyal. The leadership of Kazi Lhendup Dorjee was the only viable option for Sikkimese politicians who desired democracy. Paudyal’s notional middle path reached a dead-end, forcing him to merge forces with Kazi’s, which he did and he then played a crucial role during the merger. Significantly, although he was a sitting MLA, he was kept isolated in Pune for his treatment while Sikkim was being merged with India. He was discharged from the hospital only after 16 May 1975. He had sustained an injury on 4 March 1975 when he had led a group of Congress youth to block the entry of the Chogyal at Rangpo when he was returning from Kathmandu after attending king Birendra’s coronation.
He was possibly the only Sikkimese who went or rather was ‘referred to Pune’ for protracted minor physiotherapy treatment. He thus became the only sitting MLA who doesn’t technically qualify to be lumped among the batisay chor, the 32 MLAs infamously alleged to have sold Sikkim to India. However, his association with the Kazi government after the merger and his ministerial role did club him with the 32 MLAs. If he had stayed away, he would have become the only incumbent MLA who resisted the lure of power for the sovereignty of Sikkim. But it was not to be.
RC Paudyal’s hunger strike at the Palace Lawn on March 28, 1973, became a memorable event, adding much-needed momentum to the mass movement demanding greater democratization of the political system, a written constitution, and ‘one man, one vote’. This led to the historic May 8 agreement.
Post-merger, Paudyal’s political journey showed tremendous promise. Although he did not stand in the 1979 election, he led the Sikkim Congress (Revolutionary), and his party won 11 seats, securing over 20 percent of the votes. Chamla Tshering, who had won from Ralang on an SC (Revolutionary) ticket, joined the Bhandari-led Sikkim Janta Parishad government immediately, and many other MLAs crossed over to the Sikkim Prajatantra Congress.
In the 1985 election, Paudyal unsuccessfully contested on an INC ticket from Loosing Pachekhani. He then founded his own party, the Rising Sun Party (Jhulkey Gham Party), which lost all seats in the 1989 and 1994 elections. By the 1980s, Paudyal had begun dedicating most of his time to the study of religious scriptures.
A quick scan of his political career reveals that he was a rare man with the courage to defy the norms of being ‘politically correct’ and to speak and do what he believed was right. This trait was the single most significant factor in his failure in electoral politics. In his one-on-one with Kailash Pradhan, possibly recorded in 2018, he speaks on a range of subjects. A few things leaped out to me as intriguing points, which we can ponder as we mourn his unfortunate death and remember his journey as a Sikkimese politician.
He movingly narrates the inspiration behind his plunge into politics. His father, during a post-dinner family chat around the agena (fire in the traditional earthen stove), explained why he had to miss his nawran (naming ceremony). He had been assigned by a karbari to carry ‘Kalo Bhari’—a load of goods belonging to an aristocrat—to Tibet, which meant leaving his nursing wife and newborn behind. This poignant story, told with a dash of cheerfulness and effortless smiles, instilled in the 15-year-old RC Paudyal a sense of resentment against feudalism and a hunger for justice. “This monarchy has to go,” he decided. His involvement in the merger movement was, in a sense, his adventure in search of personal vindication and the social emancipation of his fellow subjects who shared a similar destiny under Chogyal feudalism.
Sent to study in Gangtok, 8 years old RC Paudyal stayed with a relative who was addicted to gambling. This relative would gather friends to gamble every day, obstructing Paudyal’s studies. He wasted six years in that house, unable to read a thing, before moving to the school hostel. This sad story gives us a peek into the social malady of gambling, which is deeply rooted in our culture. How many young RC Paudyals have had their studies disrupted, not just by the noise of gamblers, but by the wasting of money that could be used to educate children, and by attracting promising students into gambling?
The late RC Paudyal was also one of the few Nepali Sikkimese leaders who had the courage to acknowledge his ancestry in Nepal. He stated that his family came to Sikkim from Ilam at the end of the 18th century. He also highlighted how the British Raj played a major role in escalating the migration of Nepalis into Sikkim. The political stance of many fellow Sikkimese Nepalis is so unacademic and idiotic that to concede this fact is seen as an unpardonable crime. They would go to any extent to express their Nepaliness, yet enigmatically dismiss the idea that they came from Nepal. The inhabitation of Limbus and Mangars in Sikkim predating the Namgyal dynasty, the Sikkim-eastern Nepal interplay, and the massive migration of Nepalis into Sikkim during the time of Jean Claude White, the first British political officer of Sikkim, are some historical facts that explain the existence of the Sikkimese Nepalis.
How Sikkim’s history will evaluate the political legacies of the late RC Paudyal is a matter best left to time. However, it is safe to say that he was too unpolitical a politician. His honesty disqualified him to thrive as a politician. Winston Churchill’s “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” was his favourite quote and lamented that democracy can so easily be abused. Talking about how politics has often been controlled by money, he said, “Many can’t resist the lure of money and when money begins to work, intelligence become redundant” – he was bang on.
On a personal note, I never met him in person. I postponed my attempt to meet him for far too long. He had emailed me a screenshot of one of my articles. He must have read my articles and wanted to encourage me for which I am grateful. His demise has made Sikkim poorer. An honest Sikkimese patriarch is gone.
“He was a rare man with the courage to defy the norms of being ‘politically correct’ and to speak and do what he believed was right. This trait was the single most significant factor in his failure in electoral politics.”
(Views are personal. Email: jiwanr@gmail.com)