Linguistic and Religious Minorities of Sikkim

Linguistic and Religious Minorities of Sikkim

Sikkim, a tiny Himalayan state of the Indian Union, is a multi-ethnic society inhabited by different ethnic communities belonging to different racial and linguistic groups. There are more than 25 different tribes and communities and more than 13 different languages belonging to different linguistic stock are spoken in the state. There is an age-old co-existence of different religions such as Yumaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity etc. and faith and belief system among the different ethnic groups.

Of these different tribes and communities of Sikkim, ‘Lho-Men-Tsong-Sum’ Bhutia, Lepcha and Limboo, three indigenous communities constitute both linguistic and religious minorities in Sikkim. According to Thapa (2002, p.33) until 1951, there were 39397 (28.70%) Buddhist and 15991 (11.65%) Limboo Yumanist. Rest, 81872 (59.64%) of the total population of Sikkim were Hindus. While the census of 1981 affiliated to the language, records 192891 (62.57%) Nepali speakers while 22391 (7.26%), 21548 (6.9%) and 17922 (5.8%) the Lepcha, Bhutia and Limboo speakers respectively (Singh, 1993, pp. 10-11). According to the Census of India, 1991 out of 406457 total population of Sikkim, 256418 (63.08%) were the speakers of Nepali language. Meanwhile Bhutia, Lepcha and Limboo speakers recorded only 32593 (8.01%), 29854 (7.34%) and 28174 (6.93%) respectively which constituted 36.93%. The census of 2001 also records 390170 (72.14%) Nepali speakers of the 540851 total population of Sikkim and on the other, Bhutia, Lepcha and Limboo speakers constituted 41825 (7.19%), 35728 (6.14%) and 34292 (5.89%) of the total population of Sikkim respectively.  On the basis of religious and linguistic aspects; Limboo, Lepcha and Bhutia constituted the linguistic and religious minorities of Sikkim.