Nar Bahadur Bhandari (5 October 1940 – 16 July 2017) served as the Chief Minister of Sikkim from 1979 to 1994 and is remembered as one of the most prominent political leaders in the state’s history. As the founding leader of the Sikkim Sangram Parishad, Bhandari was instrumental in the inclusion of the Nepali language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. He made history as the first Indian Chief Minister of Gorkha origin and was also the president of Bharatiya Nepali Bhasha Parisangh until his passing.
Bhandari’s political journey began with the founding of the Sikkim Janata Parishad in 1977, and he became Chief Minister for the first time in 1979 after his party’s victory in the state assembly elections. His party’s subsequent electoral victories in 1985 and 1989 marked an extraordinary era in Sikkim’s political history, especially when the SSP won all 32 seats in the legislative assembly in 1989. Though he lost a vote of confidence in 1994, his contributions remained significant throughout his career, including a brief tenure as a member of parliament and involvement with the SKM party before his passing.
Bhandari’s enduring legacy includes free education from elementary to graduate levels, establishing schools within close proximity for all Sikkimese children, ensuring access to drinking water, expanding roads to major villages, connecting rural areas to the electric grid, and enhancing healthcare facilities across the state. Widely regarded as the architect of modern Sikkim, his contributions continue to shape the state’s development today.
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