GRC demands white paper on Sikkim-Darjeeling merger issue

Gangtok, June 7 (UNI) A Sikkimese regional outfit Gorkha Rashtriya Congress(GRC) today demanded the state government should either publish a white paper refuting "historical documents" that states Darjeeling district is a part of Sikkim or claim back the "lost territories".

Claiming that the whole of Darjeeling district, inclusive of Duars and parts of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal belongs to Sikkim, as mentioned in historical documents, the GRC urged the Sikkim government to look into the matter at the earliest.

According to the white paper, published by the West Bengal government in 1986, the present territory of Darjeeling historically belonged to Sikkim and Bhutan and was included in India following wars and agreements, said GRC president D K Bombzan.

Copies of the documents were provided by the GRC to the media in Gangtok.

The documents claim that the Raja of Sikkim, by a Deed of Grant signed on February 1, 1835, ceded Darjeeling to the British for setting up a summer retreat camp.

''As per the official records available, the British India paid annual lease amount every year to Sikkim. After Independence in 1947, Indian Government continued to do so till 1975, the year Sikkim merged with India,'' said Mr Bombzan.

Copies of the receipts of payments were also distributed by GRC.

Till 1975, the people of Darjeeling paid land revenue taxes to the Sikkim ruler through Kazis and Dewans, said Mr Bombzan.

He produced a document where he had been paying taxes for his land in Darjeeling.

In 1997, Darjeeling Zilla Congress passed a resolution for merger of Darjeeling to Sikkim. Mrs Indira Gandhi had asked the Darjeeling Congress to create a public opinion in favour of the merger, as reported in newspapers at that time.

''However, the West Bengal Congress leaders killed the momentum,'' Mr Bombzan accused.

''The paradoxes of the events are that the Sikkim government, after its merger with India, should have claimed its lost territories which were not done. As a result, the Gorkha, Lepcha and Bhutia communities, residing in this region, naturally feel that they have been ignored by their rightful owner and become the political victim of Bengal's colonial rule,'' said Mr Bombzan.

Mr Bombzan also challenged the Sikkim government to refute the historical documents or come forward to restore its lost lands. He also said that he would take necessary legal acftion.

Mr Bombzan said that merger with Sikkim was the only way for people of Darjeeling to be free from "political slavery" of West Bengal government.

''The merger will transform Sikkim into a bigger and economically self-sustainable state. Sikkim and Darjeeling are, in fact, predominated by the ethnic communities,'' said the GRC president.

UNI