Pawan Chamling’s remarks spurs controversy

SNS, Gangtok, 26 March 2014:Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) president Pawan Chamling’s reported ‘goons’ remark on Darjeeling residents has triggered controversy, with the Opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) urging neighbours in the Darjeeling Hills to oppose and condemn Chamling’s statements.The SDF, however, defended the remarks and claimed that its chief never generalised Darjeeling Hills as the breeding ground for “goons who are helping the SKM to disturb peace in Sikkim.”

In his party’s foundation day speech in Jorethang on 4 March, Mr Chamling reportedly said that the SKM enjoys support from “goons and miscreants mostly from different parts of Darjeeling.” On Monday, SKM spokesperson MN Dahal said Darjeeling citizens must take the matter seriously and condemn such derogatory statements on the people there. “Darjeeling is not a breeding ground of goons as Chamling states,” he said. SDF spokesperson Bhim Dahal, however, today rubbished Mr Dahal’s statements as baseless. “Our party president never said in any of his speeches that the youths from Kalimpong and Darjeeling are goons. We do have information that the SKM has hired goons for propagating violence in the state, but we never specified to which state or city they belonged to, as the goons have no particular address,” the SDF spokesperson said. He said Darjeeling is an ‘intellectual state’ for all the Indian Nepalese and a place of such prestige should not be defamed by objectionable statement like that of the SKM spokesperson.

Another SDF spokesperson, PD Rai, has written to the Chief Electoral Officer against MN Dahal and a section of the media for ‘misrepresenting’ Chamling’s speeches.“This statement is complete fabrication of the truths and it twists the contents of our party president’s speeches, as he had referred to only anti-national elements from several places in the Northeast region. He never portrayed people from Darjeeling in a negative way,’ Mr Rai said in his complaint.

Mr Rai also demanded that MN Dahal be censured for issuing such “blatant lies” through the media.

In Darjeeling last week, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) chief Bimal Gurung had raked the issue and demanded an explanation from Chamling.

Mr Gurung said the comment was totally ‘unjustifiable,’ and hence the Sikkim chief minister should give an explanation to the people. “We are not interested in Sikkim politics. We are rather proud of the state, but Chamling should refrain from making such remarks, as our region is not the only home to such elements,” Gurung had said in Darjeeling.