Issues facing Sikkim need early resolution

The continued denial of reserved seats to the Limboo and Tamang communities in the Sikkim assembly amounts to denying the people of these communities their constitutional right.

Editorial, EOI, 6 January 2024: It is unfortunate that the Centre has not taken the initiative to resolve three pressing issues facing Sikkim despite several petitions to Delhi by Gangtok for their early resolution. 

The latest petition submitted to the Centre was as late as on Thursday when Chief Minister of Sikkim Prem Singh Tamang met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a delegation that comprised a number of his Cabinet colleagues and also the Speaker of the Sikkim Assembly.

These three issues include the granting of scheduled tribe status to 12 left-out communities of Sikkim, reservation of seats in the Sikkim State Assembly for the Limboo and Tamang communities and the visit of the Karmapa to Sikkim. 

All of these are not new issues. Even previous Chief Minister Pawan Chamling had requested the Prime Minister to arrange seat reservation for the Limboo and Tamang communities when the latter had visited Pakyong to inaugurate the Greenfield airport there. Sikkim is not alone in demanding tribal status for left-out communities. In Darjeeling, too, the granting of scheduled tribe status to 11 left-out communities is a burning issue. In this, however, the hills of Sikkim and Darjeeling are not on the same boat; though, barring one, the communities concerned are the same in the two neighbouring hills. 

Sikkim, however, has based its demand on the argument that all these communities in question were regarded as tribal under the rule of the Chogyals; before the merger of Sikkim with the Indian Union. This granting of scheduled tribe status in Sikkim is important to remove anomalies and discriminations.

The continued denial of reserved seats to the Limboo and Tamang communities in the Sikkim assembly amounts to denying the people of these communities their constitutional right. For, the Limboo and Tamang communities were included in the list of scheduled tribes way back in 2003 and the reservation of seats for them in the legislatures concerned and Parliament should have followed as a natural corollary. With a recent favourable order by the apex court, there has been some progress with this. Yet, the feeling is there that the Centre is still dragging its feet on the issue. The early visit of the Karmapa to Sikkim is an issue that affects the sentiments of hundreds of thousands of common people of the State. 

A large section of the people of Sikkim is devout Buddhists; as the enthusiasm and participation of common people of Sikkim during the recent visit of the Dalai Lama to the state has demonstrated.

Moreover, the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism is one of the predominant sects of Buddhism practiced by the people of Sikkim; the Rumtek monastery being the seat of the Karmapa.

Besides the sentiments of the people of Sikkim, the visit of the Karmapa to the state is also important for Delhi. Since the illegal occupation of Tibet by China and the systematic attempt by Beijing to wipe out the religion, culture and language of the Tibetans, this hapless community is looking up to India for the preservation of their religion. 

The sooner Delhi understands that Buddhism is a bulwark against Chinese machinations in the Indian Himalayas, and for that matter also in Bhutan, the better it is