BJP ruled out merger possibility: Sikkim MLA

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, 21 Aug 2019, Gangtok: A Sikkim BJP MLA has claimed that the national leadership of the party ruled out the possibility of the state's merger with Darjeeling - a demand raised by some Darjeeling-based parties from time to time, but which has absolutely no backers in the Himalayan state.

Ram Madhav, the national secretary of the BJP, gave the assurance to this effect to 10 BJP MLAs recently. “ The so-called leaders of Darjeeling and Kalimpong had met Ram Madhavji. Ram Madhavi himself told our team that until and unless the people of Sikkim said they were happy with the merger, it would not happen;101 percent, ” said D.T.Lepcha, the MLA of Gnathang-Machong. The 10 MLAs had defected to the BJP from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).

The protection of the territorial integrity of Sikkim was among the host of demands submitted by the 10 MLAs in a memorandum to Union home minister Amit Shah on August 14, a day after they had joined the BJP in New Delhi..

“ The geographical boundaries(of Sikkim) that existed during the 1975 accession to the Union of India to be maintained without any alteration. Any changes to this boundary could threaten the peace and security in the state as we have a very internationally-sensitive border, ” the memorandum had stated.

Lepcha told The Telegraph that he and the other MLAs would also meet the central leadership again in the next eight-10 days to discuss the memorandum..

“ They are very busy now with Kashmir and issues concerning other states. We will again be going (to Delhi) in the next eighteen days. There will be positive response, ” hes aid. The merger of Darjeeling with Sikkim is a demand which keeps cropping up in Darjeeling from time to time. Its votaries are mainly fringe parties like the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress and Darjeeling-Sikkim Ekikaran Manch, but even mass based parties like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have raised the demand in the past