KHANGCHENDZONGA
Kalam
Puraskar 2012
Conferred
by Press Club of Sikkim
Acceptance
Speech
Jigme N Kazi
July
17, 2012
Hon’ble
Chief Guest, Secretary IPR, Press Club Advisor, President Press Club of Sikkim,
distinguished guests and friends,
On Receiving the Award: I feel very privileged to be here today to
receive the Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar award from the Press Club of Sikkim
on its decadal foundation year. I am told by the Press Club that it had
“unanimously decided” to confer this award for my “outstanding contribution and
dedication” made during the last three decades (1983-2012) in the field of
journalism.
I believe that by
conferring this award to this long-time black-listed man, who is forced to live
in self-imposed exile in his own homeland, the Press in Sikkim is sending a
clear message to those who care to listen. And that message is loud and clear:
the Press in Sikkim wants to be more free and independent and those in power
and the people at large should take note of it and respect its stand.
I enjoy doing what I do –
be it eating, taking a walk or writing. I seek no reward and recognition in
doing these things even if what I do benefits those around me.
People often criticize me
of being stubborn and always swimming against the tide. Let me remind them of
what US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin said: “Only dead fish go with
the flow.” Living with walking corpses all these years has been a very painful
experience. It is better to be exiled in foreign shores than having to undergo
constant suffocation at home. However, if this is the cross that I was born to
bare then I must live with it whether I like it or not.
Yes, we have more
journalists and more newspapers today than when I started in this profession 30
years back. But I’m not too sure whether we are more free, objective and
independent in our reporting. What is more important in life is quality, not
quantity, and this also applies to the Fourth Estate, particularly when so many
people depend and look up to the Press to make the right decision.
Sikkimese Society: If we cannot uphold certain basic and
fundamental values of human existence such as freedom, democracy, justice,
self-respect and the rule of law we miss the opportunity that life offers to
each one of us. The first indication of a society’s degeneration is when
individuals live and work only for themselves. Sikkim is on the verge of being
a dead and decadent society. Our constant efforts to camouflage ourselves will not
work in the long run. We will be fully exposed when the time comes.
We locals often distance
ourselves from the byaparis, the
business community, for encroaching into our economic and political rights and
interests. Little do we realize that while they sell potatoes, tomatoes etc. we
are the real byaparis. We have sold
our king, our flag, our country, our distinct identity and political rights.
Not content with this we are still selling our hills and valleys, our lakes and
rivers, our land and people, our religion and culture, and worse of all our
self-respect and dignity. Is it really worth sweating it out for such people?
Sikkim Politics: Me and my kind have lived through this bitter
period in Sikkim’s history. In our efforts to fight for the common cause we
have brought down five chief ministers and made four chief ministers in the
past so many years. We did this for a
good cause and without any selfish motive. We are not to be blamed if our political
leadership continuously fails us and lets us down the moment they come to
power.
I took leave from the
Fourth Estate at the end of the year 2000 to make my personal contribution to
Sikkim politics when I was convinced that those we backed were betraying us and
the issues we raised for petty considerations. Unlike many others, I could not
hang around and hide myself safe and secure in a small corner when I was
convinced that we were being led to a dead-end street. I left active politics after
three and half years in August 2004 when I was fully convinced that I was
heading nowhere and those around me were still deeply involved in petty
politics. There is no future for Sikkim and the Sikkimese if our political
leadership – ruling and opposition – fails to rise above mundane things and continues
to mislead the people while making great promises.
It is futile to fight for
the distinct identity of Sikkim within the Union if the leaders of our larger
community are not sure of who they are, whom they represent, and what they
really want. Nepal’s political situation, where ethnic communities are being
reduced to a minority in the land of their origin, has still not opened our
eyes. This is because while our head is still not clear our heart is full of
greed. When will we ever live in a place where the mind is without fear and the head
is held high? When
will this non-stop looting stop? Corruption has reached a point of no return. Disillusionment
has set in and this seems to be irreversible. These are dangerous trends in a
sensitive and strategic border State like Sikkim.
India’s Role in Sikkim: Even if our political leadership has failed
us time and again, India must live
up to the expectations of the Sikkimese people. If it continues to ignore the
hopes and aspirations of those who sacrificed their country so that this nation
may live in peace and security there may come a day when Sikkim will become a
hot-bed of international politics. We may not see that day but that day is not
afar if India fails to honour its commitments made to Sikkim and the Sikkimese
people during the takeover.
The gradual dilution of
our distinct identity, political rights and social harmony originates from New
Delhi. The erosion of our unique and distinct cultural identity, the systematic
manner in which seeds of division are sown in our social fabric, and finally
the destruction caused to our fragile environment and ecology cannot and must
not be easily condoned. We cannot blame our leaders only; we, too, have shamelessly
become agents of division, disunity and destruction. We have sown the wind; we
will surely reap the whirlwind.
Hope and Gratitude: I’m grateful to the Press Club of Sikkim
for recognizing my work and honouring me on this very special day. This is the
time and the moment to renew our pledge for a strong, united, free and
independent Press in the State.
On this special day I
want to remember those who have helped me in my three-decade-long career. Some
of them are late Chukie Tobden, Suresh Pramar, Devraj Ranjit, Tenzing Chewang
and Pema Wangchuk. I also owe a deep sense of gratitude to the Chamling
Government and to those who worked or in any way associated with my printing
press and publications.
Living the way I did is a
risky business and I want to say how happy and grateful I am to my wife
Tsering, her parents, and my four kids –
Tashi, Yangchen, Sonam and Kunga – for letting me live my life freely and
dangerously for so long.
I hope my endeavours will light up your path
and help you to bear the burden of being free and independent in a hostile
climate in the days and years to come. My message to you on this day comes from Rev.
Jesse Jackson: “Stand up, don’t bow! Stand up, don’t bow!”
On Myself: French Emperor Napoleon Bonarpate (1769-1821) once said:
“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long
run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”
I have already said “I
have accepted the death of my dreams” a few years back and I stand by it.
However, I have filed my
petition in the court of Khangchendzonga, Sikkim’s Guardian Deity, to seek
justice – for Sikkim, the Sikkimese people and for myself. I am still patiently
waiting for the verdict. That this award should come at this time and in the
name of our Presiding Deity is not only very auspicious but meaningful as well.
Thank you all, both for
this wonderful award and your determination to preserve the integrity,
independence and freedom of the Press in Sikkim.
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