National freedom fighter Helen Lepcha origins traced to South Sikkim

BGP team meets surviving family members, finds vintage memories of Helen Lepcha
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GANGTOK, August 6: The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), which is working hard to bring out the contributions of Sikkimese people in the national freedom movement into public knowledge, has found the birth place of freedom fighter Helen Lepcha at a remote corner in South Sikkim.

The discovery of the birth place of Lepcha who is also known as Sabitri Devi has proved the role of the Sikkimese people towards the national freedom movement, BGP said.

Lepcha was associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom struggle and had led the coal mine workers agitation in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. She had passed away on August 18, 1980. Her Sikkimese origins were a matter of speculations till the BGP launched a mission to trace her antecedents.

On the basis of documents published in 1990s, a Sikkim BGP team consisting of its president Dr Kamal Gurung, working president Narayan Bhattarai, general secretary S Pandey, BGP national executive member CP Giri and Pravin Khaling had on August 1 toured South Sikkim to find the birth place of the freedom fighter.

The trail led to Sangmo village, near Assangthang and some 15 kms away from Namchi,
the South district headquarters where the remains of Lepcha’s ancestral house was found by the Sikkim BGP team.

Members of the second generation of the freedom fighter’s family-Lako Tshering Lepcha (65) and Aki Lepcha (68) and Narmit Lepcha were interviewed by the Sikkim BGP team to collect more credible information on Helen Lepcha.

The remains of a Chorten at Gumpa Dara in the village were shown to the Sikkim BGP team by the family members. They pointed out that their aunt, Helen Lepcha used to annual send money till 1980 for the maintenance of the Chorten.

The Chorten is now in dilapidated conditions.

Lako Tshering Lepcha recollected that their grandfathers used to stay in a cluster of four-five big houses and in one such house, the family of Helen Lepcha used to reside.

Only eroding history of the ancestral house of Helen Lepcha today remain.

A framed black and white picture of Helen Lepcha clutching a medal conferred by the Prime Minister remains as memories for her few surviving family members whose economic conditions are weak.

The BGP has acknowledged the support of Pemcho Lepcha, the grandson of the freedom fighter, in the mission which took three years. He was raised in Kurseong where Helen Lepcha had settled and had provided valuable inputs to the BGP.

After finding the ancestral house of Helen Lepcha and collecting more information from her family members, the BGP has claimed that the role of Sikkim in the national freedom movement is now proved beyond doubt. A research report on the freedom fighter from Sikkim will be published in the Sikkim BGP mouthpiece which will be released on August 24 during the ‘Balidan Diwas’ celebrations at Rhenock.
The family members of Helen Lepcha will also be introduced to the public during the function.

The BGP will also be working to erect a statue of Helen Lepcha and submit memorandums to the State government for naming roads in Sikkim in her name.
It may be recalled that Helen Lepcha was born at Sangmo village in 1902 and for some reasons; her family had shifted to Kurseong in Darjeeling district.
Though Helen Lepcha received her education at Kurseong, her love for Sikkim still existed and she used to annually send money for the maintenance of the Chorten in her village, the family members said.

However, Helen Lepcha could not return to Sikkim even once and the people in her village slowly lost touch with her.

Helen Lepcha had joined the national freedom movement with full vigour in 1920 and was given the name of ‘Sabitri Devi’ by Mahatma Gandhi, BGP said. She had also played an important role in the escape of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose from his confinement at Giddha Pahar in Kurseong subdivision in 1940.



source;sikkim express