The truth behind the triggering of the refugee crisis
Karma Phuntsho’s article ‘Bhutan reforms and Nepalese criticism’ in Open democracy dated 13-10-2006 has factually wrong information that is largely made on the assumptions that prevails in Bhutan.
When the 1958 Citizenship Act was implemented throughout Bhutan in 1985, it affected sections of the Lhotsampa community. It could have been resolved if Lyonpo Dago Tshering had not “seized the opportunity” to exact revenge on Teknath Rizal. Committees headed by Teknath Rizal had got eight Dzongdas terminated from their services for corruption, including Lyonpo Dago Tshering’s brother Dago Sitha.
When the then Royal Advisory Council member, Mr. Teknath Rizal, along with Upadhya and 32 Lhotsampas officials petitioned King on the citizenship issue, the King dispatched an investigation team to Chirang to authenticate the claim.
Dago Tshering instructed Chirang Dzongda Dorji Wangdi to engineer a contradiction to Rizal’s claims in front of the King’s investigation team by threatening the local people into making false statements to the contrary. Under threat and fear, the people disagreed with the claims made in the petition and thus Rizal was victimized. He was unceremoniously dismissed from the Royal Advisory Council and Dago Tshering even arranged to have him imprisoned, but Mr. Katwal and other Lhotsampa officials petitioned King for pardon and he was saved. In 1989, Rizal fled Bhutan for Nepal. He was arrested at Birtamod, Nepal and flown to Bhutan and imprisoned for ten years. The role of Om Pradhan, then the Trade and Industry Minister is full of suspicion because he was initially one of the signatories to the petition and later the principal aide to King in this regard.
The Bhutan People’s Party (BPP) under the leadership of Mr. R.K. Burathoki surfaced in the midst of the citizenship crisis. They staged struggle against the Royal Government of Bhutan to assert their rights to citizenship. No demand for democracy was made at that time. When the Bhutan government was prepared to grant citizenship to genuine Lhosampas nationals, but the activities of BPP changed the government mind all together. The rest is history.
The issue of my ethnicity and my name
Though Karma Phuentsho has directed the criticism at the Nepalese, but the innuendo to me hardly escapes notice. This is the second time that it has been mentioned that I’m not Sharchopa but a Khengpa. The first time was when Lyonpo Dago Tshering made the remark back in the 1995 National Assembly session. He is absolutely right when he say that I am Khengpa but totally wrong when he refer to Sharchopas as “Tshangla-speaking Easterners”. I am a Khengpa and a Sharchop.
In Bhutan, the inhabitants of the region east of Pelela in Tongsa are known as Sharchopas and those in the west of Pelela are known as Ngalongs. The Sharchop region consists of eight districts and is known as the “Sharchop Khorlo Tsip Gye”. The name is self explanatory. These are the erstwhile provinces of Tongsa, Bhumthang, Kurtoe, Kheng, Mangdi, Tashigang, Tshing Yangtse, Dungsam so sum. All the different ethnic groups of this region, primarily the Bhumthaps, Khengpas, Kurteps, Tshanglas, are essentially all Sharchops – the “people of the east”. The erroneous misconception now is that only the Tshanglas speaking people are considered as Sharchopas .
Even in the heart of Tshangla speaking land, there are many villages that speak other dialects. In Tashigang district, Tshangla lho, Brokpai kha, Khengpa, Tsamangpai kha and Dakpa and Zala kha are spoken. In Tashiyangtse, Tshangla lho, and Zala kha. In Mongar, Tshangla lho, Tsamangpai kha , Chhali-Tormatshomg kha and Gungdudpai kha. In Kurtoe, Shay kye, Zala kha and Tsamangpai kha. In Bhumthang, Bhumthangpai kha. In Tongsa, Mangdipai kha. In Kheng, Kheng Kha and Tshangla. The west of Pelela speaks only Ngalong kha with slight variations in accents.
A brief background on me, and genesis of how “Rongthong” came to be attached to my name (to set the record straight)
I was born at Wangdicholing in Bhumthang to Khengpa parents. I spent my childhood in Bhumthang, Paro, Thimphu, Wangdi Phodrang and came to Tashigang in 1954, accompanying my father. At the age of twenty, I married Aum Yeshi of Rongthong. Thereafter, I stayed in Rongthong for 27 years and my census record is also in Rongthong.
My name then was not “Rongthong Kunley Dorji”, but simply Kunley Dorji. In Tashigang and Samdrup Jongkhar, I was known as “Ata Kunley”, and “Babu Kunley” to the Lhotsampas. However, having lived in Rongthong for such a long time, and to identify me amongst hundreds of other Kunleys, I began to be popularly known among my associates as Kunley Dorji from Rongthong, or in short, “Rongthong Kunley Dorji”. In west, I am generally known as Rongthong Kunley Dorji. The members of Royal family simply called me “Rongthong”. Even His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck simply called me “Rongthong’.
King a Sharchop or a Ngalong?
Karma Phuntsho’s argument that the King is not a Ngalong is not entirely true. Sharchops are not an ethnic group but the “people from the east.” It is true that the family hails from Kurtoe, a Sharchop province and his forefathers are Kurteps and Sharchops. But after the demise of the 2nd King, the 3rd King shifted Bhutan’s capital from Bhumthang to Thimphu in 1952. His Majesty, Jigme Singye Wangchuck was born at Dechencholing Palace in 1955 and his census record is at Dechencholing, Thimphu. Therefore, even though his roots are from the East, he is a Ngalong by birth.
Another examples: Dasho Ugyen Dorji’s (Father of Four Queens) family hails from Shar Dirang in Arunachal Pardesh, India. However, he was born in Talo to Ashi Dorji Wangmo, sister of the Zhabdrung. He is now referred to as a Talop. Even the Father of our Nation, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal is known as ‘Lho Ngawang Namgyal” even though he hails from Tibet. According to Karma Phuentsho’s logic, we should be referring to the Zhabdrung as a Tibetan. Why are Bhutanese of ethnic Nepalese origin called Lhotsampas? Should we be calling them “Nepalese” of Nepal?.