Sikkim National People’s Party condemns petition filed in SC
Gangtok, June 28, 2013
The Sikkim National People’s Party (SNPP) held a meeting on the 27th of June 2013 to discussing the petition filed by the old settlers of Sikkim in the Supreme Court for exemption from Income Tax as granted to the bonafide Sikkim Subject holders. The meeting went through the petition in detail and after much discussion, resolved to issue the following statement.
The SNPP strongly condemns the choice of words used in the petition to describe the Sikkimese of Nepali origin as foreigners, which shows an absolute lack of sensitivity on the part of the petitioners regarding the sentiment and pride of the majority community who, incidentally, have been supporting the petitioners in their efforts to exempt themselves from paying Income Tax from the beginning.
The party feels this is a betrayal of the trust which has existed for so long and is of the opinion that just a simple apology to the Nepali community will not suffice, and the petitioners will have to make visible efforts in order bring back the trust as it was.
The SNPP also feels that these repeated assaults on the identity of the Sikkimese of Nepali origin is because the seats reserved for the community was illegally done away with.
The Nepali community of Sikkim has not taken this matter up as a serious political issue, despite the fact that the Constitution permits all seats in Sikkim to be reserved for Sikkim Subject Holders only.
The Party feels that till the seat reservation is restored, the Sikkimese of Nepali Origin will not get their due even after having papers like the Sikkim Subject Certificate, and will be subject to these demeaning accusations in the future also.
The party hopes that this incident will be the eye-opener for the people to renew their demands for the restoration of seat reservations which were in place and which will put an end to such absurd insinuations.
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