Sikkim@50: Violence Is the New Normal
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Sikkim@50: Violence Is the New Normal
Jiwan Rai
17 minutes ago
For now, the golden jubilee's most pressing question may well be this – how many more must bleed before justice is not merely promised, but delivered?
In this image released by @PSTamangGolay via X on May 16, 2025, Sikkim Governor Om Prakash Mathur with Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang takes part in a 'Tiranga Yatra' to express solidarity with the Indian armed forces, in Sikkim. This was also the day when the state marked its 50th anniversary of statehood. Photo: Via PTI.
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May 16 is 'Sikkim Day', which marks the former kingdom's integration with India in 1975.
Sikkim is celebrating 50 years of integration with the world's largest democracy. But behind the roar of celebration resound the cries of young voices who dared to dissent. If political intolerance in Sikkim had a colour today, it would be a deep, unforgiving crimson. Blood has become the new price for dissent. Violence is no longer an aberration; it has become the chilling new normal.
The situation has deteriorated so drastically that even the state's Bharatiya Janata Party, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha's own ally, as admitted by chief minister Prem Singh Tamang himself at the India Today Conclave, was forced to convene a press conference on May 6, demanding an intervention by the Police Accountability Commission. When the national ruling party must publicly beg for institutional restraint in a state, the indictment could not be more damning.
A macabre pattern of escalating violence against opposition figures in Sikkim is hard to ignore. From the daylight assault on SDF leader J.B. Darnal in June 2020 to the recent attacks on Anand Rai on May 2 and Citizen Action Party youth leader Ashish Rai on May 5, the narrative remains alarmingly consistent: individuals critical of the state establishment are brutally assaulted and perpetrators are hardly given exemplary punishment.
In July 2021, a vocal SDF youth leader Arun Limbu, along with his sister and sister-in-law, were brutally attacked. Similarly, his party colleague, Rajesh Walling Rai was assaulted by a mob just outside the Sadar Police Station in Gangtok, with the video going viral.
If the state's premier police station no longer deters violence, what hope remains for the average citizen across the state?
The viral and damning video of Keshav Sapkota, general secretary of the Joint Action Council being attacked on the Singtam Bridge on April 8, 2023 by a mob as Sikkim Police stood by exposes the helplessness of those in uniform and the law and order situation of the state. The JAC was protesting against the redefinition of the term 'Sikkimese' in relation to tax exemptions for 'old settlers.'
Tashi Gyatso Bhutia, another SDF youth leader, was assaulted in March 2023.
Then in March 2024, there was the shocking and near-fatal attack on K.N. Rai, the former assembly Speaker. A man in his mid-60s, already battling a rare and debilitating illness was brutally assaulted and left so grievously wounded that he had to be airlifted to Delhi for emergency treatment. S.K. Timsina and Chandra Khaling were also attacked in the same incident. Young thugs targeting a defenceless former public servant weakened by prolonged medical treatment is quite telling – it exposes a culture that is rotting from within. The shift is a screaming red alarm. Other opposition leaders who were attacked include Binod Rai, former MLA, Aron Rai, Jack Rai, Tashi Palki Bhutia, Suman Chamling, Ramesh Kirat Rai, Mahesh Gurung, Sonam Tamang Dhanbahadur Tamang, Sidhant Subba, Noel Sharma and Phurden Bhutia. The list is by no means exhaustive. Each episode leaves behind not just a wounded body, but a wounded democracy.
In February 2023, the SDF headquarters, the party office in Namchi and the Gangtok house of its party president – the state's former CM Pawan Chamling – were pelted with stones during a bandh called by the SDF to protest a Supreme Court observation referring to the Sikkimese Nepali community as 'immigrants.'
On the night of June 10, 2024, shortly after the swearing-in of the new SKM government, several opposition leaders' homes were targeted in stone-pelting incidents. Among those affected were Bhaichung Bhutia's residence in Lumsey and Mechung Bhutia's property in Burtuk. CCTV footage captured masked individuals throwing stones at these properties.
These attacks are frequent and appear to signal a systemic breakdown of law and order along with a collapse of accountability. The repeated targeting of opposition members will gradually weaken the foundations of democracy and demands urgent action from both state and central authorities to ensure the safety and rights of all political participants. The Sikkim Police, once a symbol of public trust, now finds itself at the centre of mounting criticism.
The true tragedy lies not only in the blood staining Sikkim's streets but in the betrayal of its founding ideals and the slow suffocation of its democratic soul. As the state marks 50 years of democracy, the gulf between its founding promise and current reality yawns wider with each act of repression. This relentless cycle of political violence forces us to confront an urgent question: What can the future hold when dissent is repeatedly crushed?
While banners proclaim 'Sikkim@50,' we must ask the uncomfortable question: can a democracy endure when it fears and resents the voice of its own people? Do we possess the courage to confront the cruel irony of the fact that the glowing tributes and grandiose fanfare seen in this historic celebration stand in grotesque contrast to broken bodies and silenced voices? The youth of this fifty-year-old democracy, who dared to challenge, question, and demand accountability, now bear the cost: hospital beds instead of podiums and fear instead of freedom.
For now, the golden jubilee's most pressing question may well be this: How many more must bleed before justice is not merely promised, but delivered?
Jiwan Rai is a social and political commentator from Sikkim. He can be reached at jiwanr@gmail.com.
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