-By : Dilli Ram Thapa
I was in the middle of something ordinary when I heard the news; Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai name being recommended by the Collegium of the Supreme Court for elevation as Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. The first woman judge from Sikkim to reach that position.
I stopped what I was doing; not because I was surprised — those of us who have known Justice Rai’s work, knew this day would surely come. But because moments like this have a way of making you reflect on where you come from and what your home is quietly made of.
I have practised law for the greater part of my adult life. I have appeared in courtrooms, advanced arguments, and scrutinised judgments; I have observed the law both performing its designated function and, on occasion, falling short. For me, the law is not an abstraction but a living instrument that shapes concrete outcomes. It can determine whether a family retains its land or loses it, whether a right is robustly vindicated or quietly extinguished.
So when I say Justice Rai’s elevation means something to me personally — I mean it in a way that goes beyond politics. I mean it as someone who has spent years in the same world she has devoted her life to.
Sikkim is a small state. People outside often forget we exist until something remarkable happens here. And then they notice — briefly — before moving on.
But those of us who live here know something they don’t.
This state has produced extraordinary people with extraordinary consistency. Our soldiers serve at the hardest postings, our civil servants carry responsibilities far larger than our numbers would suggest, and now, one of our own sits at the head of a High Court in one of India’s most significant states.
We punch above our weight. We always have. The question I keep asking myself is — do our institutions reflect that? Do our leaders reflect that?
I think about this often. Especially now.
Sikkim has a unique constitutional identity. Article 371(F) is not just a legal provision — it is the architecture of who we are. It protects our land, our people, our way of life, and it requires — it demands — leadership that understands it. Not just as a political talking point. As a living, breathing commitment.
I have spent years studying and practising the law. I understand what these protections mean in practice. I understand what happens when they are eroded slowly, quietly, without anyone noticing until it is too late. I understand because I have seen it happen to others — and I have spent my career making sure it does not happen here.
That is not a political position. That is a personal one.
Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai will take her seat at the Patna High Court and she will dispense justice with the same integrity she has always shown. Sikkim will cheer from a distance — as we always do for our own.
But I hope this moment also makes us ask a harder question. Not just — who are we producing? But — are we being led by people who understand what we are?
A state with Sikkim’s history, Sikkim’s protections, and Sikkim’s potential deserves more than administration. It deserves leadership rooted in principle. Leadership that knows the law not from a briefing note, but from the inside.
I am proud of Justice Rai. I am proud of Sikkim.
And I believe — deeply — that the best of this state is still ahead of us.
Dilli Ram Thapa is President of BJP Sikkim and an Advocate of the High Court of Sikkim.
