question_answer

Since India'’s independence, the Sikkim royals had been uncomfortable about the role the Indian government played in their state. Now the war of 1965 and the arrival of Hope Cooke, the new queen of Sikkim, had thrown the relationship between India and Sikkim into a flux, and China was waiting to exploit the weaknesses.

In 1964, Palden Thondup, the Chogyal, had married Hope Cooke in a glamorous royal wedding in the Himalayas. The western world was enamoured by the fairy-tale romance between Hope, a young all-American girl from Brooklyn, and the royal from Sikkim. Their wedding had all the ingredients of a Hollywood romance. Hope was compared to Grace Kelly, the film actress who had married the king of Monaco.

The wedding was a high-profile event that drew ambassadors from nine nations, including the newly appointed US ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith. The list of dignitaries was long and included Indian leaders, bureaucrats and key socialites of Sikkim. Indira Gandhi was one of the attendees. Hope Cooke had put the obscure, tiny Buddhist kingdom on the world map. But Hope would also cause the unsettling of India-Sikkim relations, perhaps instigated in no small measure by China.

In 1962, when China and India were at war. Hope, whom Palden Thondup was then courting, had written a cheque to the Indian Prime Minister’'s Defence Fund.

The war of 1962 was an outcome of differences between India and China over the boundary they shared, which excluded the border involving Sikkim. At that time, the war completely bypassed Sikkim since China was also consciously cultivating support amongst the Sikkim royals.

India did not take kindly to China’s interactions with the royals. An increasingly aggressive and expansionist China, which had taken over Tibet, was suspected to have its sight on Sikkim and there were concerns that a military thrust could follow a brief diplomatic parry. When Tashi Namgyal, Palden’'s reclusive father, passed away in December 1963, an official note of condolence arrived for Palden Thondup from Peking. Similarly, when Palden was crowned as the king in 1965, Zhou Enlai was among the first leaders to congratulate him. On both occasions, India did not take to the gestures kindly.

In 1965, the stand-off between the Chinese and Indians at the Sikkim-Tibet border had ironically resulted in increasing tensions between India and Sikkim. As India’'s protectorate, Sikkim'’s defence was in Delhi'’s hands. But Delhi'’s statement saying that it would not allow China to violate “"India'’s border”" had bothered the Chogyal. On the advice of Nari Rustomji, the Indian political officer and his dewan, the king issued a statement reiterating Sikkim'’s independent identity in the dispute between India and China.

What was India’s concerns regarding Sikkim?

A) There was fear of the Chinese takeover of Sikkim

B) Sikkim was drifting away from India

C) Hope Cook did not want Sikkim to be friendly with India

D) All the above