The Quest for Tribal Identity in Sikkim

AMRIT SHARMA

Ethnic Identity in the Kingdom of Sikkim

 For many centuries in Sikkim, the ethnic identities of its people were divided into three main categories- Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali. While the Kingdom of Sikkim was formed by a formal treaty – ‘Lho-Mon-Tsong-sum’ signed by Bhutia, Lepcha and Tsong leaders, over time the Tsongs, despite them having played a pivotal role in the establishment of the monarchy, were for all intends and purposes treated at par with the other Nepalis, with the exception of them being granted a reservation of one seat in the state council from 1968 until the abolition of monarchy. While the 1891 census conducted by the British listed thirteen diverse ethnic groups in the state, the state administration clubbed together the population into 3 main categories – Bhutia-Lepcha (BL), Nepali and Others, which is evident in the ways laws were framed keeping these distinctions in mind such as Revenue Order No. 1, which forbade the sale or purchase of BL land to non BL, differential land revenue rates for BL and Nepalis (including Tsong) and the parity system of voting for Council elections, the prohibitions on ‘plainsmen’ from venturing into or settling in rural areas among others. Thus prior to 1975, ethnic identities were not understood in today’s terms of tribal versus non-tribal but primarily as differentiated by religion with ethnic groups practising Buddhism, the state religion, seen as being closer to each other and different from those practising Hinduism. In the 1966 book, ‘Nations of Asia’, Chogyal Palden Thondup remarked that, although as many as two-thirds of the Sikkimese population spoke Nepali, “[m]any in this group are not ethnically Nepali but of Mongoloid stock practising Buddhism”.

This was reflective of the rule of the 11^th and 12^th Chogyals, who tried to find common ground between the diverse communities and try and unite them under the umbrella term of ‘Sikkimese’, which was formalised by the enactment of the Sikkim Subject Regulation Act in 1961, which granted equal citizenship to people from all four communities provided that they or their ancestors were domiciled in Sikkim prior to 1946. Since the passing of the Act, the Sikkim Subject Certificate (SSC) was the main basis of differentiating Sikkimese from Others, it became a mandatory document to get Government employment, enjoy state benefits, purchase land or be entitled to scholarships or get state sanctioned educational quotas in higher education institutes in India. Rule 4(4) of the Sikkim Government Establishment Rules, 1974, further cemented this affirmative discrimination towards Sikkimese by requiring that all Govt. jobs that were filled by others due to a lack of suitable Sikkimese candidates would have to be handed over to Sikkimese candidates when they became available. Thus prior to 1975, there were no reservations for any Govt. jobs or educational opportunities based on ethnic considerations, the only criteria being that candidates had to be suitable and possess a SSC.

This was rather different than the case in India during that time. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the main architect of the Indian Constitution was a firm believer in ‘affirmative discrimination’ being one of the only ways to uplift the downtrodden lower castes and tribals from centuries of discrimination by the upper castes. He envisioned this as a system of granting reservations in legislature and parliament seats, govt. jobs and economic policies targetted specifically at these communities, all with the aim to uplift them socially, economically and politically. Article 46 of the Constitution states that "The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation." In 1954, the Ministry of Education suggested that 20 percent of places should be reserved for the SCs and STs in educational institutions with a provision to relax minimum qualifying marks for admission by 5 percent wherever required. Similar reservations were also put in place for jobs in Govt. departments or Govt. aided institutions. While Sikkim did implement a policy of reservations for BL, Sangha, Nepali, Tsong and Scheduled Caste in the council elections, it did not carry forward these reservations to jobs or Govt. schemes.

Tribal Identity Post Merger with India

On June 26^th 1978, the Govt. of India issued the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Order (Sikkim) notifying Bhutias and Lepchas as Scheduled Tribes and Damai, Kami, Majhi and Sarki as Scheduled Castes. The Bill no. 9 (for rearranging seats seats in the State Legislative Assembly in Sikkim) was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 18^th 1979 and became an Act in 1981 which had 12 seats reserved for BL, 1 for the monasteries (Sangha), 2 for Scheduled Castes while the remaining 17 seats were declared as ‘General’ thus ending decades of reservation granted to the Sikkimese Nepalis under the Namgyal dynasty. Interestingly, though BL had already been notified as ST prior to this Act, they were granted this reservation not on the basis of their ST status but as being ethnically from the BL community.

The Limboos and Tamang communities were not included in the list notified in 1978 and one year later, a letter was sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Delhi to the State Government of Sikkim, which clearly mentioned that the Limboo can be grouped with the Lepcha and their entry could be ‘Lepcha-Limboo’. Apart from that, another left out communities list was given by the MHA which said that Mangar, Gurung, Tamang, and Rai can be included after review by the Sikkim Government. However, the Govt. chose to ignore these recommendations as it viewed that the issue of Tribal status for Tamangs and Limboos could not be isolated from the issue of citizenship, Nepali seat reservation and recognition of Nepali language. Mr. Bhandari's official note submitted by the Minister, SC/ST and Welfare Department on August 22^nd 1987 said, " Limboo and Tamang should not be included in the List of Scheduled Tribes as this would divide the Nepali Community”. Thus would began Sikkim’s tryst with demands for Tribal status but for a state with limited human resources and ample employment and educational opportunities, it would not play a significant role in the political discourse in the state until the 1990s.

Mandal Commission and its fallout in Sikkim

When the V.P. Singh Govt. decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission in 1991 and provided twenty seven percent reservation to Other Backward Castes (OBC) all over India, the Govt. of Sikkim, then led by Mr. Nar Bahadur Bhandari adopted a resolution rejecting the recommendations as it did not include all Sikkimese Nepalis in the definition. His stand was publicly opposed by his long term associate and cabinet minister, Mr. Pawan Kumar Chamling, following which he was expelled from the Sikkim Sangram Parishad Party. He went on to then lead a term of defectors which led to the collapse of the Bhandari Govt in May 1994. The successor Govt. immediately recommended seven communities among the ‘Sikkimese of Nepali origin’ to be included in the OBC list to the Union Govt and consequently, Bhujel, Gurung, Limbu, Mangar, Rai, Sunuwar and Tamang were declared as OBC on June 2^nd 1994. In the upcoming elections, Mr Chamling fought the election on the OBC plank, being from one of the communities included in the central List and pitched himself as a champion of the down-trodden and backward classes. He emerged victorious winning 19 out of the 32 seats and would begin an era of reservation with an ultimate aim of either tribal or OBC status for all Sikkimese Nepalis.

In 1995, reserved seats for OBC were instated in public employment, educational institutions for professional courses, Panchayat and municipal boards. The Govt of India added Thami and Jogi to the central OBC list in 1999 and 2000 and in 2001, Govt. of Sikkim added Bahun, Chettri, Newar and Sanyasi to the state OBC list, effectively making every community in Sikkim part of either state or central reserved lists. The 90’s also saw the proliferation of ethnic associations whose main agenda, other than the preservation of their customs and traditions, has been to lobby for inclusion in the central lists of ST or OBC. That the OBC status was seen not as a fixed status but a stepping stone or a bridge to finally get ST status for all Sikkimese Nepalis was evident in his December 1995 address in the Legislative Assembly, where Mr Chamling speaking about the inclusion of Sikkim in the North Eastern Council expressed the view that joining the North East would provide “all possible [] facilities peculiar to the tribals of the state” to current OBCs.

Defining Tribalism

This era saw a sea change in Sikkimese society and politics with the centuries old classification of BL, Nepali and Others being transformed into a diversification of the Sikkimese Nepalis into various sub-groups often differentiated by an ‘Aryan’ vs ‘Mongoloid’ debate that would dominate the political landscape of the time. This debate was also triggered in part by the definition of tribal identity in larger India is framed in the colonial era, which looks at the qualifying features of tangible tribal culture to be based on ‘primitive characteristics’, ‘distinctive culture’, ‘geographical isolation’ and ‘shyness of contact with dominant community’, along with non-Hindu religious and cultural practices as well as distinct language, script, mythology and folklore as the main denominators of tribal culture. These prerequisites posed a problem for many ethnic groups in Sikkim who, historically have not explicitly expressed, culturally or politically, their distinctiveness from other groups with whom they have co-existed and have seen decades of cultural and social intermixing.

It is in this space that the ethnic associations came to the forefront with each of them publishing literature on the community’s history, cultural practices, customs, rituals and folklore. Ethnic languages like Sherpa, Gurung, Rai, Mangar, Newari, Limboo and Tamang were recognised as official languages. Many festivals which had been previously celebrated in private spaces started becoming public functions with each community wanting to showcase their uniqueness and distinct identity.

This can be best seen in the case of the Limboo and Tamang communities who had been fighting for Tribal status for decades, especially in the Darjeeling Hills. Their movement also saw a cultural revival among both communities with the Limboos reviving and codifying their religion, Yumaism and the spearheading the publication of many scholarly works on their mythology, religion and way of life. The Tamang community also stressed on their ancient ancestry as horse traders (Ta means horse and Mang means trader in Tibetan) and stressed on their Buddhist heritage with the first Tamang Monastery, Dechen Choeling, being established in 1987. The culmination of their decades long movement finally bore fruit with the two communities being accorded Scheduled Tribes status in 2003.

Current Scenario

With the two communities finally getting ST status, the ‘tribalism’ of all Sikkimese Nepalis became the burning political demand that would define subsequent elections. Two high level commissions were instituted, the Sinha Commission (2004) and the Burman Commission (2009) and their recommendations were sent to Govt. of India but were rejected by the Office of the Registrar General of India. For the Limboo and Tamang communities also, even after gaining ST, status, they have failed to get requisite reservation in the Legislative Assembly given that the current reservations are based on BL ethnicity rather than ST status. The previous Govt. presented a 40 seat formula by adding 8 more seats to the current 32 legislative seats but it failed to reach an understanding with the BL community on a corresponding increase in their seats to maintain the current parity formula. The current Govt. has promised to resolve this long pending issue during the upcoming delimitation in 2026, so it seems unlikely that these two communities will see their rightful demands being met before the next state elections in 2029.

The twelve ethnic communities who have been left out of the central ST and OBC lists have also been campaigning vigorously for inclusion in the lists. Even as recently as June this year, various delegations including one led by CM Mr Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) and Rajya Sabha M.P.  Mr. D.T. Lepcha met with Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah and Minister, Tribal Affairs Mr. Jual Oram but the Govt of India has responded by saying that the state need to follow due process and take the recommendations through the offices of the Registrar General of India.

Having failed to persuade the Union Government despite the findings of two expert Commissions, it would seem unlikely following the same methodology would bear fruit. Ironically, under the older classification of the population into BL, Nepali and Others during the monarchy, Sikkimese Nepalis had enjoyed equal opportunities in Govt. employment and had also had 50-50 reservation in the legislature. Even the historic 8^th May Agreement between the Govt. of India, the Chogyal and the Representatives of the people, which was to become the foundation of 371F, makes a clear mention of safeguarding the social, economic and political rights of ‘Sikkimese of Nepali origin’. So it would seem claiming ethnicity based not on various cultural differences but based on a unified identity as a distinct class of people who were former subjects of a monarch and treated equally for all purposes, might be a more legitimate claim to satisfy the precepts of tribal culture.

(Amrit Sharma has a Masters in English from Hindu College, Delhi University and a Masters in Mass Communications from M.C.R. C, Jamia. He worked in NDTV and then went on to Head Communications in Multi-national companies in Delhi, Spain, Switzerland and U.K. He recently moved back to Sikkim and currently runs a Homestay in Gangtok. Views are personal.)