50 Rupees Sikkim Statehood

Sikkim's absorption into India in 1975 remains one of the more contested annexations of the post-colonial period. The kingdom's last Chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, disputed the referendum that preceded merger, and his American wife Hope Cooke's subsequent departure drew international attention to the circumstances. The fiftieth anniversary of statehood — which this coin marks — arrives with that historical argument still unresolved in some quarters.