Glare on Sikkim tag

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, 06 Aug 2019, Gangtok: The Union government's decision with regard to Article 370 of the Constitution, which had provisions for Jammu and Kashmir, has had tongues wagging in Sikkim on the possibility of similar fate befalling Article 371F, which provides special status to the Himalayan state.

But regional political parties have sought to play down such fears.

The local parties were unanimous in their views that that the Centre was committed to maintaining the sanctity of Article 371F, given the special circumstances under which Sikkim had merged with India. "To talk about the possibility of Sikkim, too, meeting the same fate as Jammu and Kashmir is to have a limited understanding of the Constitution," said Jacob Khaling, the political adviser to Sikkim chief minister P. S. Golay.

Biraj Adhikari, the spokesman for the Hamro Sikkim Party, too, echoed Khaling and said there was very little possibility of any dilution of Article 371F because of the unique position of Sikkim, which had merged with India in 1975.

All the regional political parties in the state are one on the issue of protecting the sanctity of Article 371F. "A 10-member delegation of our MLAs met Ram Madhav (BJP national secretary) in New Delhi today and submitted a memorandum in which the protection of Article 371F finds mention. Our delegation will also be meeting home minister Amit Shah," said Avinash Yakha, a spokesman for the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).

The Sikkim chief minister, too, had met Madhav earlier in the day and is understood to have underscored the need for protecting Article 371F. The two meetings had been arranged earlier. A section of the people, however, said the manner in which the BJP-led government at Centre handled Article 370 was not comforting.