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Kangchendzonga to Kanyakumari

By C. Raja Mohan

After four days of frustrating wait, the cloud cover over Gangtok finally eases to reveal the full majesty of the Kangchendzonga towering over the surrounding mountains. As the dawn becomes morning, the coat of golden pink over Kangchendzonga turns imperceptibly into dazzling white. A more humbling sight may not exist across the Himalayas.

The divine grace of Kangchendzonga, the world's third highest peak, is the gift Sikkim brought to India when it acceded to the Union in 1975. Textbooks across the country had to be rewritten to proclaim Kangchendzonga as the highest mountain in the country, replacing the Nanda Devi in the Western Himalayas. Kangchendzonga is no longer just the presiding deity of the Sikkimese; it is now a mascot for India as a whole. Yet, there is a sense of neglect in the land of Kangchendzonga. Few border States in the country are as enthusiastic about a deeper integration with India and as impatient with the slow ways of the Central Government in promoting it. After joining India, the Sikkimese have warmly embraced the Indian identity. But they often wonder if India is serious about integrating with Sikkim.

* * *

Just mention the word national security and it gets the Union Government all excited these days. Yet, in this sensitive State on the border with China, with a population barely half a million, one is hard pressed to find a sense of purposefulness in New Delhi's attempts to tighten the linkage between the Indian heartland and Sikkim.

The geopolitical significance of Sikkim can hardly be overstated. It abuts the Western flank of the Chumbi valley, the single most important piece of real estate in the entire Himalayan range. The Chumbi valley coming down from Tibet sticks like a dagger into Bhutan and the narrow Siliguri Corridor that connects mainland India to the North East.

The Indian establishment since the late 1950s did pay special attention to overcoming the defence vulnerabilities in the region by building roads and creating connectivity. But the infrastructure built by India for its security requirements in the past is woefully inadequate in meeting the aspirations of the region for higher living standards.

The Sikkim Government points to the imperative of transforming the region through the creation of a modern road network to link it to the rest of India, promotion of tourism from India and abroad, and making Sikkim a gateway to trade and pilgrimage to neighbouring Tibet in China.

The Sikkim Chief Minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, who has put the State on the fast track of economic development, sums up his vision for the State in one simple question, "Why not a modern highway between Kangchendzonga and Kanyakumari''

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One cannot resist comparing the security strategies of India and China to their far-flung and sensitive border regions. Experiences of this reporter from a trip to Xinjiang province a year ago and to Tibet this August stand in sharp contrast to those in Sikkim.

Flying over Xinjiang and Tibet, one could see a vast network of modern highways linking the far corners of the two provinces that are sparsely populated. China is now building a rail line into Tibet that will be ready in 2007. In Sikkim, the road network is extremely poor. Gangtok is not yet on the civil aviation map of India. And the roads are in a pitiable condition.

China hopes to bring in three million tourists to Tibet in the next five years. That is larger than the population of Tibet. In Sikkim, India continues to insist on "innerline permits'' to foreigners who want to visit the State so rich in tourist potential.

Since the late 1990s, China has unveiled an ambitious "West development strategy'' that hopes to bring in large sums of domestic and foreign investment. India has poured in subsidies to Sikkim and other North Eastern provinces. But there is no grand strategy for the economic development of the region in the era of globalisation.

Opening borders and expanding economic cooperation with neighbouring nations is the Chinese way of globalising Xinjiang and Tibet. Trade with neighbours and prosperity through globalisation, Beijing hopes, will douse the separatist sentiment in these two provinces.

India, on the other hand, is still afraid of opening up the North East. New Delhi continues to shun assistance from the Asian Development Bank aimed at promoting trans-border cooperation between India's eastern provinces and Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The Government is even afraid of track-two seminars that would let harmless academics discuss ideas on economic cooperation between the North East and the neighbouring nations. For one such gathering in Gangtok this summer, the Ministry of External Affairs would not give visas to participants from China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

One might pardon the Central Government for its hand-wringing on opening Sikkim to trade with Tibet. But the least New Delhi can do is to build transport links between Kangchendzonga and Kanyakumari.

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• Kangchendzonga to Kanyakumari
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