The Rebel in Exile
“When oppression wins out, as we all know here, those who nevertheless believe that their cause is just suffer from a sort of astonishment upon discovering the apparent impotence of justice. Then come the hours of exile and solitude that we have all known. Yet I should like to tell you that, in my opinion, the worst thing that can happen in the world we live in is for one of those men of freedom and courage I have described to stagger under the weight of isolation and prolonged adversity, to doubt himself and what he represents. And it seems to me that at such a moment those who are like him must come toward him (forgetting his titles and all devices of the official orator) to tell him straight from the heart that he is not alone and that his action is not futile, that there always comes a day when the palaces of oppression crumble, when exile comes to an end, when liberty catches fire.”
- Albert Camus
One of the major feelings that engulfed me after I decided to live in self-imposed exile in my own homeland was the feeling that I had completed my assignment in Sikkim. As a son of Sikkim, who may have been reborn again, I have paid my debt to this soil. In fact, I was more than convinced that I had paid more than my debt to this soil.
My ancestors founded Sikkim almost a thousand years back and maintained it despite trying situations till it was annexed by its protecting power in the garb of ushering in ‘democracy’ in 1973-75. The blood of my ancestors flow through my veins and it is my sacred duty and honour to serve my homeland and its people.
Political and professional life in Sikkim have no real meaning for me if we cannot embrace all communities and unite them towards a common destiny where peace, unity, harmony, freedom, democracy and the rule of law reign supreme.
The fact that nobody really made any serious approaches to me on these issues during my three-and-half-year-long (2004-2007) self-imposed exile proved beyond any shadow of doubt that there was nobody who really and truly cared for Sikkim and the Sikkimese people and for justice, freedom, democracy and the rule of law to triumph in Sikkim. Even those who flirted with me politically for a brief while when I re-emerged from my hideout in 2007-8 have proved themselves to be unfaithful allies and a liability for the Sikkimese cause.
People make choices in life and they will either succeed or suffer from the choices they make. I chose to differ, to dissent and thereby suffered from the choices I made for over a quarter of a century. My works are reflected in the pages of my books which I have been able to complete during my exile in my own homeland. I hope that the dreamsthat I set out to fulfill will one day be reflected in the hearts and perhaps in the works of those who believe in the righteousness of our cause.
I have lived out my dreams. I have paid my debt. I am a free man now.
(Ref: THE LONE WARRIOR: Exiled In My Homeland, Jigme N. Kazi, Hill Media Publications, 2014.)