Himalayan Times (1960)

January 3, 1960

LETTERS TO THIS KDITOK

ThL' Kditur U not responsible for viewa eipreaflud in this coiuinite.

"CLOAK AND DAGGER"

Sir, the following is
a moit astounding stoiy,
not, perhaps, without its
element of grim humour!
Ths Sikkim State Cong-
ress Working Committee
held a meeting at Sing-
lam on the 9th Deoem-
ber, at which 23 mem-
bars wire present, where
it was decided, unani-
mously ana finally, to
put up two candidates
for the ensuing bye-elec-
tions, namely Shri Nalia-
kul Pradhan and Shri
C D Rai, and this was
accordingly noted in the
Minute Book As this
decision was unanimous
and final, Shri Kashiraj
Pradhan, who, apparently,
had also filed hie nomi-
nation papers, agreed to
withdraw his nomination
papers before tfie 22nd
in favour of the accep
tsd Congress oandidato,
Shri C. D. Rai. .Shri
Kashiraj Pradhan gave
his solemn word to do
this before the entire
Congress Working Com-
mittee, and thus the
matter was looked upon
by all present as olosed.
But, it was then sudden-
ly discovered that the
Minute Book had been
nimbly captured, alleged-
ly by the alert Shri
Kashiraj !! Is not this

POLITICS IN SIKKIM!!

"cloak and dagger" poli-
tics at its most melodra-
matic !!

Later to the ama
zement of the Congress
Working Committee, the
Congress General Secre-
tary, Shri B. B. QuruDg,
was summarily ordered
by the Peesident to call
a meeting at his house
on the 2 Int. I he Gene-
ral Secretary refused to
comply with th t> order,
aB he contended iliat the
meeting at Singlam on
the 9th bad been accep-
ted by all present as
final word on the issue
of the choice of Congress
candidates; and secondly,
the General Secretary
maintained, and very
rightly so, that to call
•uch a meeting at the
house of the Congress
President was highly
improper. So, at the
"meeting" held in Shri
Kashiraj Pradhan's own
house on the 21st spar
sely attended, the said
General Secretary was
arbitrarily suspended !
And, what was even more
astounding, was thut tLe
Congress Piesident then
announced that he and
Shri Nahakul Pradhan
were the official Congress
candidates !!

Thereafter, a largely
attended meeting of the
Sikkim State Congress'
was held at Namchi on
the 24th in which the
unanimous decision was
taken to expel Shri Ka-
shiraj Pradhan forthwith
from the Sikkim State
Congress Party. Shri B. B.
Gurung was retained as
General Seoretary, and
Shri Biraspati Parsai wa*
elected aa President.

On the 25th at Nam
chi, a mammoth meeting
took place, and the re-
solutions passid at Nam-
chi on the previous day
were loudly aocUinied by
the public and fully sup-
ported. It is learnt that
a determined protest, and
representative to the
Election Coir, mil lee are
being made on the sub-
ject at to how Shri Ka-
shiraj Pradhan came to
be given a Congress sym-
bol A deep probe is
demanded into this matter

One can, therefore,
only hope that 19ti0 will
bring to a polii ioally-tnrn
Sikkim the leaders that
the people really want,
and not those foisted upon
them, with all the chi-
canery arid misery this
entails, and the uonse.
quant unhappiness and
confusion for our poor
people, whose cry now
for reforms is ' How long,
oh ! Buddha, how long t"
Yours etc. Knzini Dorji-
Khangsarpa of Chakhung.