Ancestrality, Migration, Rights and Exclusion: Citizenship in the Indian State of Sikkim

Abstract

This is the introduction to a special issue of Asian Ethnicity that includes six papers on the issue of citizenship in the Indian state of Sikkim, from the perspectives of anthropology, political science, sociology and history. These contributions explore the entanglement of migration and ethnicity that defines political membership and exclusion in Sikkim, as it does in other parts of India. They give a central place to the consequences of the combination of the 1961 Sikkim Subject regulation (that remained valid after Sikkim became a part of India in 1975) and 'group-differentiated citizenship' in a context where Sikkim's population-formed through people's mobility within a region that has long been a crossroads between Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Indiawas brought into the frame of a territorial concept of the nation. These papers also explore the means used by people in Sikkim to contest their categorisation by the state.

Demographic anxieties and Indigenous futures in the Indian Himalaya

“…In addition to providing a vital labour force, the ‘pro-British-India-Nepalis’ addressed British anxieties about the pro-Tibetan Sikkimese population (Hiltz, 2003: 71). As Vandenhelsken (2021: 216) notes, ‘the colonial organization of Nepalis in Sikkim was not only driven by economic concerns but also aimed at turning the local Bhutia and Lepcha, whose elites initially opposed colonial rule, into a minority…. Nepali migration in Sikkim was ‘weaponized’ by the colonial administration, setting the ground for reification of antagonistic relations between the “settlers” and the “natives”.’ This antagonism was entrenched by the British in law and policy and adopted by the Namgyal monarchy who disallowed Nepalis from purchasing land belonging to Bhutia–Lepcha communities.…”

‘Land’ as a site of contestation: Empire, identity, and belonging in the Darjeeling Himalayas

“…The politics of parzapatta became more relevant when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Center announced NRC (National Register of Citizens) in July 2018 and the amendment to the Citizenship Act (CAA) that foregrounded modifications to the principles underlying the definition of the nation and of political membership in India (Vandenhelsken, 2020: 1). Many Gorkhas in neighboring state of Assam were declared as ‘De-voter’ at the first phase and denied their citizenship rights in the NRC (later the Gorkhas in Assam were exempted from NRC).…”

Effects of the Doctrine of Discovery: A Strive to Build Sustainable and Peaceful Communities in North East India

“…The British government administered Manipur from 1891-1907 and later left as a princely state with limited monarchy until the British left in 1947 [25]. Sikkim was an autonomous kingdom in the mid seventeen century until it was incorporated into the Union of India as a distinct state in 1975 [26]. Sharing international borders is a vulnerability and an advantage for trade relationships.…”