Gangtok (Sikkim) [India], February 5 (ANI): Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Golay dismissed speculation regarding the Sikkim-Darjeeling merger on Wednesday, saying that certain politicians and the opposition party are simply spreading rumours.
Post the legislative assembly session on February 5, Golay reassured, “The state’s special status under Article 371F of the Indian Constitution would continue to protect Sikkim’s autonomy. This is known to everyone, every Sikkimese. Even those spreading those rumours have been asked about the merger and they have claimed the merger will never happen. It is not possible, it is not an issue. They (opposition) do not have issues to pursue, so sometimes they spread these rumours. The opposition’s claims about a merger are unfounded, as Article 371F guarantees our state’s special provisions.”
On Tuesday during the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha party foundation day, Golay had said, “There is no merger happening between Sikkim and Darjeeling, we are protected by Article 371F. Neither can any state take over Sikkim nor can any other region be a part of Sikkim. There is way that Sikkim and Darjeeling will merger. Sikkim has its own identity, Darjeeling has its own identity.”
The CM further assured that delegation heading to New Delhi on February 10 with the demand for Scheduled tribe status for 12 left out communities will not be including representatives from Darjeeling hills. Golay compared the previous delegation for Limboo Tamang communities tribal status demand (early 2000s), which did include representatives from Darjeeling Hills.
“The meeting was scheduled to take place in Kolkata, as the Chairman of the committee is from Kolkata. The first of such meeting has taken place in Samman Bhawan (Gangtok). But then we changed the venue from Kolkata to New Delhi as we have our own infrastructure there (Sikkim House) and have members in the committee there as well,” the CM said.
“This was decided in the Legislative meeting which didnt have representation from Darjeeling. Our representation will be only for Sikkimese communities who will be submitting their draft to the concerned ministry in the meeting”, he added.
However, Golay assured that the representatives from two states will collectively pursue the demand for tribal status of 12 communities, claiming, “It will be a good pressure collectively on the central government to pursue the tribal status demand. Hence we had held a meeting in Siliguri as the demand is same for both Sikkim and Darjeeling, with their demand being for 11 communities and ours being for 12 communities. But the high level committee is only for Sikkim not for Darjeeling.”
Opposition Citizen Action Party had earlier questioned the State government of having liaised only with Darjeeling MP Raju Bista from Bharatiya Janata Party for their demand, and not with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Darjeeling has been equally pursuing the tribal status demand with even higher population of 12 communities than Sikkim.
Bhujel, Gurung, Jogi, Kirat Khambu Rai, Kirat Dewan (Yakha), Khas (Chettri-Bahun) Mangar, Newar, Sanyashi, Sunuwar (Mukhia), Thami and Majhi communities have been identified to grant the Scheduled Tribe status.
Regarding other communities, Bhutia, Lepcha, Sherpa communities were granted Scheduled tribe status during the merger of Sikkim with India; Limboo and Tamang communities were declared as tribal communities in 2003. (ANI)
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