Editorial:State Day Congratulations!

The State Day celebrations in Gangtok featured the conferment of a wide array of civilian awards, a first for Sikkim, to individuals who have established strong social credentials with their commitment to their respective vocations in particular and the people at large in general. Such recognition of personalities who have made Sikkim proud and served its people well is a handsome display of confidence and pride- a gesture which needs to be celebrated and sustained. On the occasion of Sikkim’s 37th State Day, there are also many more congratulations due to Sikkim and its people for the maturity with which it has navigated the complexities of Indian democracy and the sanity with which it has addressed issues. While the rest of the country appears fractured, both in pursuits and mandate, Sikkim has been remarkably consistent and unanimous. The government in office was elected by a 75% mandate of the people. In comparison, the neighbouring State of West Bengal has a government voted into power by 48% of the votes polled [against 42% of its nearest rival]. As much as this is an endorsement of the party in power, it is also a sign of unanimity of political expression among the people here. There will definitely be those who scoff at this as a celebration of the ruling Front, but what they would end up ignoring then is respect for the will of the people. Sikkim’s social indices have been improving and development, its negative fallouts notwithstanding, has sustained an upward graph. The bounties of democracy are obvious now in Sikkim, where, even though there may be sections with get ‘left out’, there is no section which is oppressed. No one can deny that the people have secured a democratic space to protest and be heard. Take the issue of hydel protests for example. While much media space has been devoted to the protests [and rightfully so] and allegations of corruption, what has not been recognised is that Sikkim’s claims of democracy having been institutionalised have not been vacant assertions. Each protest [eg the ACT protest against hydel projects in Dzongu and the more recent protests against hydel plans on Rathong Chu] has received the institution of a ‘high-level committee’ to address the issues in contest. Sikkim also has the unique track-record of being the only State to scrap hydel projects even after they have been awarded. On last count, starting from the scrapping of Rathong Chu hydel project in the nineties, as many as eight hydel projects have been scrapped in the State in response to protests by directly affected groups and in recognition of wider sentiments which claimed hurt. Sikkim is not the only state to have embraced hydel projects, but it is the only one to have scrapped any. This is unprecedented, and even as protests continue and demands for more transparency are made, this is one aspect which should be recognised more widely. This has happened not only because the government desired so, but also because enough people leveraged their democratic right to speak up and did so in an environment which now exists to carry their voices. This environment has not been easy to achieve and it is hence important that people at large and the younger generation in particular understand the processes and history through which Sikkim has coursed. Only then will the young respect the value of their democratic inheritance and nurture it with responsibility. As the State begins its 38th year as a democracy, it should resolve to inform its young better and more comprehensively about how Sikkim’s tryst with democracy came about and how the institution has matured...