THE OLD SETTLERS OF SIKKIM

All a question of status

7 February 2010

by Jigme N Kazi

SEVERAL political and social organisation leaders and intellectuals spoke in unison on the issue of Article 371F at a seminar organised in Gangtok by the All Sikkim Educated Self-Employed & Unemployed Association on 28 January. They reminded the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front government, the Centre and the people at large on the need to preserve the distinct identity of Sikkim and the Sikkimese people within the framework of the article.

Former chief minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari, while referring to the political turmoil in the kingdom in 1973, termed the “andolan”, often described as a “mass movement” by anti-Sikkim propagandists in the ’70s and thereafter, a “conspiracy” to topple the Chogyal, erase Sikkim’s separate international identity and merge it with India.
Bhandari, who led an anti-merger movement in the 1970s and ousted the pro-merger Sikkim Congress led by LD Kazi in the first assembly elections after the controversial merger in 1979, said the need of the hour was for everyone to work for unity among all communities and preserve Sikkim’s unique and distinct status under the Constitution as reflected in Article 371F.

He reiterated the stand that the article reflected the spirit of the historic 8 May 1973 Tripartite Agreement, signed by the Chogyal, the government of India and leaders of three major political parties in Sikkim representing the three ethnic communities — Nepalese, Bhutias and Lepchas.

Former Lok Sabha member Pahalman Subba, and former minister and senior Congress leader KN Upreti, felt the need to form a common “forum” on the issue of Article 371F which, according to them, had been diluted ever since the declaration of minority Bhutia-Lepchas as being “tribals” in 1978 followed by the 1979 abolition of seats reserved for Sikkimese Nepalese in the assembly.

Prominent among those who resented the gradual and systematic dilution of the provisions of the special article and spoke on the need to work unitedly on the issue of preserving the special safeguards provided for Sikkim under the article included the president of the state BJP unit, Padam Chettri; the president of the Sikkim National People’s Party, Biraj Adhikari — the party still demands the restoration of Sikkim’s pre-merger “assotiate state” status; former Communist leader and presently convenor of the Matri Bhoomi Suraksha, Duk Nath Nepal; and former minister and convenor of the Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee, Tseten Tashi Bhutia, who is regarded as one of the few vocal leaders of the minority Bhutia-Lepcha tribals.

While Nepal warned the people of the “conspiracy” to erase Sikkim’s special status under the Constitution, Adhikari said the people needed to take a fresh look at what happened during the merger period in order to move forward decisively. The BJP chief said that while the Centre could not escape responsibility for the gradual dilution of the special provisions, the state must equally share the blame.
On the issue of income-tax, prominent member of the old business community, Prem Goyal, who is also coordinator, Nagrik Sangarsha Samiti, said it was better that the Income-Tax Act was not extended to the state as some sections of the people, particularly the business community, felt discriminated against as they were now forced to pay income-tax while bonafide Sikkimese hailing from the three ethnic communities (Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalese), who were former citizens of the kingom of Sikkim and subjects of the Chogyal and possess Sikkim Subject Certificates and others had been exempted.

While Bhutia questioned the motives of those who played communal politics in the state by unjustifiably dubbing minority Bhutia-Lepcha leaders “communal”, this scribe spoke on the need for unity among the people for economic and political empowerment, saying that, “If the Nepalese leadership go after cash the Bhutia-Lepcha (BLs) leaders would also go after cash. But if they go for a cause the BLs would also go for a cause.” Bhutia said he was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if the Sikkimese came forward for the right cause.

The seminar, part of the Association’s Janchetna Abhayan programme aimed at creating public awareness on certain vital issues that concern Sikkim and its people, raised more questions, posed more challenges and perhaps will evoke surprising responses not only from its participants but from the public in general.

The writer is editor, Sikkim Observer