Press Release
Shri Pawan Chamling gives a detailed justification for his claim that the 2024 election will be not merely about forming the next government but all about saving Sikkim
"Q. In a- meeting in Jorethang, you once again said that the 2024 election is going to be a crucial election which will not merely be about forming the next government but will be about saving Sikkim. Why do you say that?
Ans. The radical change Sikkim has undergone in the last four years is beyond belief. The Sikkim that we have today is worse than what Sikkim’s worst enemies would have wanted it to become. Who would have foreseen the following:
1. That the Sikkim Government would utterly fail to condemn the AOSS allegation that Sikkimese Nepalis are foreigners and immigrants who came to Sikkim on work permits. The SKM government appointed advocates who supported it. Sikkimese people came to know about it only after the verdict came from the Honourable Supreme Court.
2. That the term Sikkimese would be redefined to include others who were not included in the historic Sikkim Subject Register 1961.
3. That Article 14 would be invoked to nullify Article 371F. Justice M. R. Shah’s judgement on the AOSS case says, “… the exclusion of old Indian settles, who have settled in Sikkim prior to the merger of Sikkim with India on 26.04.1975 from the definition of “Sikkimese” in Section 10(26AAA) is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.” (Judgement Page 23, para 13.1)
4. That the home department and health department offices in the State Secretariat (Tashiling Secretariat) which is the seat of the Sikkim Government would be broken into. Such an incident is unprecedented in the entire country.
5. That Revenue Order No. 1 would be violated. Moreover, the SKM government allotted government land to the business community in Soreng right after they formed the government in 2019. There are now several cases of the land being registered in the name of non-Sikkimese buyers.
6. That Sikkim would make headlines due to a high profile corruption like the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in which over one lakh crore rupees have been laundered.
7. That the Sikkim government would take a whopping ₹20,000 crore loan in four years and destroy the state economy completely.
8. That the Sikkim government would spend over ₹52,000 crore as a state budget in four years and yet Sikkim would see the unemployment rate rising above 20 percent and the rural economy drying up unprecedentedly. Remember the SDF government spent ₹61,000 crore as state budget in 25 years and the unemployment rate was a mere 2 percent.
9. That Old Laws of Sikkim such as Sikkim’s Motor VehicleAct, Sikkim’s Restricted Permit, the Sikkim Work Permit Act 1965, the Sikkim Food and Drug Act 1930, etc. would be violated one after the other. Please know that the implementation of CAA and NRC by the SKM government has diluted Article 371F 9k).
10. That a senior surgeon would be killed in his own workplace in the New STNM hospital under broad day light.
11. That students would be termed ‘terrorists’ by the government and expelled from government college for demanding government intervention in the college infrastructure development.
12. That a 1.5 feet drain would wash away a college student and kill him. That is what the Sikkim government is saying about the unfortunate death of the late Padam Gurung. Such a ridiculous statement by the Sikkim police actually shows how unsafe Sikkim has become for Sikkimese.
13. That the CCTV cameras of a “Smart City” would fail.
14. That the Sikkimese sons and daughters would be brutally assaulted by goons right under the nose of the Sikkim police and yet the goons would go scot-free. That stone pelting by goons and persecution by the government would become so rampant that people would be totally scared to question the government.
15. That many police stations in Sikkim would refuse to register FIRs against the physical attacks and vandalism.
16. That the Sikkim government would sell the seven hydel projects to private companies and rob Sikkim of its revenue.
17. That the Sikkim government would sell other assets like prime government lands (Karfektar in Jorethang, Old West Point School compound and Old STNM hospital in the heart of Gangtok, Chakhung etc).
The list is endless. You may recall that soon after the SKM party formed the government, a few political leaders in Darjeeling openly said that Mr. PS Goley had been helpful and positive about a Sikkim-Darjeeling merger.
What better things can happen to a state where its Chief Minister sounds more like an action-movie villain? His open threats like, “Do not underestimate me, Goley’s team is ready”, “I will show you who PS Goley is” “We have only crushed their heads, we will crush their tails too in six months”, “I will enter their houses and beat them up” have been the sound-bytes from the chair of the Chief Minister. If he could be so brutal and ruthless in five years, imagine his brutality and violence in the next five years. He will completely finish off Sikkim. These have been the dark years for Sikkim. I appeal to the people of Sikkim to make a concerted effort to come out of this dark period and start a bright journey afresh."
Judy Rai
General Secy., Press & Publicity Affairs
SDF.
30.07.2023
