Demand of ST status for left out communities in Sikkim and West Bengal : Homework is important before making promises

Editorial, EOI, October 7, 2024: One should do one’s homework well before making sweeping political promises, as the unfolding events in the hill regions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal and in neighbouring Sikkim amply demonstrate.

Prior to the last Lok Sabha election, the ruling BJP had promised to ensure a permanent political solution for the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Though no one had explained what the solution could be, common sense logic had suggested that there could have been two possible alternatives: a separate state of Gorkhaland or scheduled tribe status to 11 left-out Gorkha communities, which could have paved the way for bringing the autonomous hill council in Darjeeling under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, giving the council wider powers.

A separate state for the hill areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong is always a difficult demand to meet for any government. The expectation had grown, therefore, that scheduled tribe status for the 11 left-out communities was round the corner.

No one had made any kind of promise to Sikkim, but the demand for scheduled tribe status to 12 Gorkha communities is a long-standing one in Sikkim. When the ruling party at the Centre made the promise for Darjeeling, it was natural for Gangtok, too, to voice the same demand, as the communities in question were the same in Sikkim and in the hill regions of Darjeeling.

What the ruling BJP should have taken into consideration is that the ST status for the left-out communities is an old demand in Darjeeling, voiced even when Subash Ghisingh, as the chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, had demanded that the DGHC be brought under the ambit of the Sixth Schedule, or later when Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chairman Bimal Gurung had correctly pointed out that before this was done, all the Gorkha communities must be declared as scheduled tribes. But the Registrar General of India, who is the authority for declaring any community a scheduled tribe, had turned down the idea at that time. Now that Sikkim and Darjeeling are trying to move in tandem with the same demand, the RGI still remains lukewarm to the idea.

Sikkim has based its demand on slightly different grounds: during the rule of the Chogyal, all these Gorkha communities used to be treated as tribal, and now, after the merger of Sikkim with India, discrimination should not be made among them. The argument is that Sikkim enjoys constitutional protection under Article 371F, and therefore the traditions continuing since the days of the Chogyal should now continue.

Here too, the Centre cannot be oblivious to the reality that even under the rule of the Chogyal, the Bhutia and the Lepcha communities used to enjoy some special protections under Revenue Order No. 1, which, as an old law of Sikkim, has been protected under Article 371F. The two communities together, known as the B-L community, also traditionally enjoy special protection in terms of the number of reserved seats in the Sikkim assembly. The Centre will also have to ensure that these special protections are not disturbed in the process of declaring the 12 left-out Gorkha communities in Sikkim as scheduled tribes.

Sikkim and Darjeeling have now decided to move in tandem with this demand for the left-out Gorkha communities, but the road ahead may not be an easy one.