THE STORY OF INDIA’S TWENTY-SECOND STATE

Sikkim remains an enigma, with many misconceptions about its merger with India in 1975. In this book, former diplomat Preet Mohan Singh Malik combines insights into the erstwhile kingdom’s history with the story of how it became India’s twenty-second state. India’s historical relationships with Tibet and China form a part of his narrative, covering many facets of British involvement in the region during the colonial period. As do strategic failures that were compounded by Jawaharlal Nehru’s Tibet policy. For India, of course, Sikkim remains strategic. The author draws from extensive sources that he had access to while serving at India’s political office to Sikkim and Bhutan in Gangtok in the late 1960s.