SIKKIM: SNPP hits the election campaign road – Outsiders’ control over business & administration must be wiped out: Adikhari
Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2009
FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS
Biraj Adikhari
GANGTOK: Making a high pitched call for ‘Sikkim for Sikkimese only’ Sikkim National Peoples Party (SNPP) today embarked on its election campaign advocating ‘to send unscrupulous non-Sikkimese people, IAS and IPS officers packing from Sikkim’.
Titled ‘Atma Alochana Abhiyan’, SNPP’s election campaign hit the road with a public meeting here at the Ranipool where the party supporters had gathered to listen to their party leaders – Tseten D Lepcha (working president), Diley Namgyal Kazi (treasurer) and Biraj Adikhari (president).
And the SNPP triumvirate lashed out Thakrey style against the ‘plainsmen and the Central cadre officials’ working in Sikkim.
“Outsiders have swamped Sikkim and are exploiting the Sikkimese people with blessings from the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party. Ninety percent of plainsmen in Sikkim are economic immigrants with fake documents. This will not be tolerated by SNPP”, said the party president Biraj Adikhari in the public meeting.
“We will send back the scrupulous plainsmen, IPS and IAS officers from Sikkim. No more IPS and IAS officers will be imported in Sikkim if our party comes to power. We will not let Sikkim get out of the hands of Sikkimese people”, said Mr. Adikhari.
“Seventy percent of Sikkim has been finished by the SDF and outsiders. Give us a chance and we will restore everything”, said the SNPP president.
Stating that his party is for the protection of Bhutias, Lepchas and Nepalis of Sikkim, Mr. Adikhari also promised to fight for the old business community residing in the State for generations.
Stating that Article 371 F had been inserted into the Constitution to protect Sikkimese people from outsiders from exploitation, the SNPP president accused the SDF government of breaking every provision of Article 371 F.
“Dzongu is the most protected area in Sikkim under Article 371 F but now twelve thousand plainsmen have encroached there. Dzongu is the soul of Sikkim and if anything happens to Dzongu, Sikkim will be cursed”, said Mr. Adikhari.
SNPP working president Testen D Lepcha said that ‘outsiders are running the government in Sikkim’ and ‘has captured the entire business sector in the State’. “The real Sikkimese people will be left with a begging bowl if SDF is again allowed to rule the State for the next five years”, he said.
“If the present free run is given to outsiders, Sikkimese people will be like those of Nepal”, said Mr. Lepcha. Time has come for us to rise and save Sikkim, he said.
SNPP treasurer Diley Namgyal Kazi appealed the people not to let their future be kept hostage by promises of ‘free 35 kgs of rice’ and come forward to wipe out the outsiders who are dominating the ‘business and administration’ in Sikkim.
“Who is running the business here in Sikkim? The issue is deep. SNPP has come up to ensure that Sikkim does not go the Maharashtra way”, he said.
“Why the old business community has not been exempted from paying income tax at par with Sikkim Subject holders? The old business community is suffering from identity crises and SNPP is serious to address their concerns”, said Mr. Kazi.
And what is wrong with the Sikkimese Nepalis? We want that the political rights for the Sikkimese Nepalis should be protected and seats reserved for them but why is GAC attacking the 12 BL seats?”, said Mr. Kazi.
Rajneesh said
Is it possible to stop the “importation” of IAS and IPS officers in any state ?
Ta2 said
YOU ARE INDIAN. India is not a foren country where any body can import things,u suck india and then call it foreign. SHAME SHAME
RAJA said
what the hell this man adhikari is saying??
Nixdude said
Well nothing new. This has always been a classic election time rhetoric, used since before Bhandari came to power. He himself came to power using the same rhetoric. Unfortunately, losers such as this guy hasn’t been able to move forward with better political agendas and manifestos. Besides in Sikkim where everything is good, peaceful and happy, what will these sorry wannabe politicians use to win votes except empty rhetoric.
DB said
With rising population and education levels, things in Sikkim will not always remain the same. There was a time when even people outside Sikkim could land good government jobs in Sikkim. Things have changed in the past decade with the Sikkimese themselves struggling to get employed. More parties will bring in the “Sikkim only for Sikkimese” agenda. Politics needs strong issues and this is a becoming a very strong sentiment in Sikkim. As long as Article 371 of the Indian constitution exists, political parties will continue to flaunt it and raise the issue in every election canmpaign. The local-nonlocal divide is going to widen, for people will continue to throng to an economically viable place, when there is an acute lack of it in the vicinity.
rubin said
thats gud thinkin but wat abt us…we are also thnkn on same lines…….gorkhaland and all arent we ?……peace
DB said
Yes, that is why we need many more islands of prosperity (Sikkim, Gorkhaland, Kamtapur, Greater Dooars). Finally, all these islands will expand to become one landmass of prosperity – that is the goal. There was a time when India was just Delhi and Mumbai. Now there are Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chennai, Ahmedabad and other cities. The “India” has to be further brought down to smaller towns (like Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Gangtok). Only then can the Mumbai-like situation be avoided. The problem with Mumbai is neither the lakhs of Biharis and UPites migrating there nor the MNS or Shiv Sena; it is the unequal growth that India is plagued with. In such a situation of imbalance, people will migrate to places of higher economic growth and the local population there will be pressurized with more competition. No one likes competition – even business doesn’t. Unless economic growth reaches the micro (grassroot) level, India cannot move ahead. The demand for Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh is a classic example. At a time when we thought that Hyderabad was the next Bangalore (at least before the Satyam-Raju fiasco), the Telangana demand raised eye-brows. We now realise the true story. Developing Hyderabad (Hyderabad falls in Telangana, AP will have to get its new capital) wasn’t enough. The region wasn’t developing as musch as people wanted it to. Therein lies the learning for us.
JTM said
While the concept of islandic small states seems divine, the problem is tht in a way it is like returning to the system of petty kingdoms. There will be more feeling of possessiveness and less feelings of Indianness. ‘Get out from my state’ will be a common refrain. or ‘do as we say’
However it is a trend of time and events leading from partition. When Hindus of Sind origin or elsewhere from thrown out of their homelands and packed off to India. And Muslims in a lesser ratio were packed out of UP, Pumjab, etc into Pakistan.
That set the foundtaion of ethnic or religious divisions.
The muscle of the Muslim underworld in Mumbai led the Shiv Sena to flex their muscles as a Hindu power.
The tussle of Lord Ram’s birth place over which the Babri was built at some time and the demolition of Babri masjid was another turning point in what would follow further to erode into India’s secular state. It is a fact that during the rule of the Mughals and Lodhi dynasty, there was systemic approach to defiling, demolishing or building over on Hindu temples.
During Ram’s time, the whole of Awadh was Ayodhya, now UP etc.
From religion the mood has swung into lingua and other ethnic divisive aspects.
I personally feel that the diversities and richness of different religion, linguistic and ethnic identities should be kept out of politics and concentratedly totally on a BRand India image programme.
New states should not have an ethnic name but a geographical name. Because while people have come and gone for centuries and centuries, the land has remained the same….the mts have remained the same…the rivers have remained the same.
Darjeeling should be renamed as Kanchenjunga or Purabi Parbat.
Hamrosikkim said
To understand the politics of Sikkim , one needs to know the history and the back ground story. Sikkim was very badly tricked and annexed into the Indian constitution through the Article 371f. Instead of adding provisions for Associate State as per the 35th Amendment and 8th May agreemtnt , the 36th Ammendment passed 371f and made sikkim a part of India.
Though the people of sikkim are simple and dont want to get out of India, there has to be fairness for the original people of sikkim. The Sikkimese Indians are special as the people who signed the so called “referendum” have a special contract with the Union governemtn. The Union cannot go back on it. The Constitution of India has to be upheld and both the State and the Central government has to respect the Constitution of India
DB said
Sikkim is a special case and deserves all the attention it is getting at the moment.
Now coming to the naming of states, we may say, “what’s in a name” but the name actually holds the key. When the Indian states were formed on linguistic (and thus communal) lines, the framers of such an establishment did not foresee the problems they were creating for the future generations. It was a big mistake! Can we undo do it? Yes, we can if there is the political will. Set up a new states reorganization commission and re-form the states on geography – Uttaranchal, Pashimanchal, Purbanchal, Dakshinanchal, Madhyaanchal, and so on. Will we do it? No we won’t because it would set the house on fire. When there is talk of changing West Bengal to Banga, a truly Bengali name, meaning it is a state for the Bengali people, creation of a geography-based name for newer states will not be agreed to. Yes, we would like to project our nation as a brand, but first we need to build up the brand to a world-class quality. Right now the brand isn’t shining. The India brand cannot be like the cheap Chinese good – attracting our eyes with the perfect packaging yet failing on all quality parameters during operation.