Supporting Gorkhaland, for Sikkim

editorial:

The Government Resolution passed in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly on Tuesday is a strong gesture of support towards the statehood demand currently coursing through the neighbouring Darjeeling Hills. Not that such a gesture was required, because Sikkim, even if the State Government had thus far not officially joined issue with the movement in the neighbouring hills, has always supported the people there in the pursuit of their aspirations. Sikkim’s general endorsement of the demands of the neighbouring district has always been clear and spontaneous and required no reiteration.
This, however, has been a thankless job because even as the unofficial channels extended material and emotional support beyond Rangpo, the reciprocal gestures have been prone to whimsical lapses.
The general anarchy prevailing in the Darjeeling hills has often spilled over to Sikkim, sometimes in direct confrontation like the attack on the Melli police outpost some years back, the torching of a Sikkim truck last year and sometimes in anonymity, like the stoning of vehicles on the highway during bandhs. Sikkim might be looking past these incidents as an act of magnanimity in the larger interest, or preferring to ignore them because its responses are still tempered by the ‘hostage syndrome’ of a landlocked state. There will also be talk of the political considerations which have changed the equations. Be that as it may, fact remains that a historic gesture has been undertaken, because with the passage of the Resolution, Sikkim has attached itself to matters beyond its jurisdiction. Although the Chief Minister had highlighted the need for a permanent solution to the problems in the Darjeeling hills at a meeting of Chief Ministers convened by the PM in Delhi some time back, this is the first time that the State has taken an official stand in support of Darjeeling’s demand for statehood. A Resolution passed by the Legislative Assembly of Sikkim might not have any direct bearing on the resolution of the Gorkhaland issue since that is a matter for Darjeeling, West Bengal and the Centre to resolve, but what it does is that it closes the chapter on the one quarrel that Darjeeling has held against the government here – of not having explicitly and officially spoken in favour of the demand for statehood. Sikkim has now stuck its neck out, because even if the Resolution is only a gesture, because it is officially attested, it is one which the politics of West Bengal will not take too well to. Delhi’s response to this gesture is also something which the State Government has risked. Given that Sikkim has still passed such a Resolution, people across Darjeeling and their extended operations in Sikkim, should reciprocate the gesture in very clear and consistent terms. It may be recalled that taxi operators in Sikkim, a sizeable number of whom hail from Darjeeling, had stayed off the roads in tacit support to the bandh-calls even as they claimed the reason to be the risks entailed in plying during bandhs. These dodges should no longer be allowed. In the very least, henceforth, there should be no uncertainty imposed on Sikkim’s connectivity requirements.
The Resolution in question is intelligently drafted, because even as it recognises the demand and aspirations of the people of Darjeeling, it holds the needs of Sikkim in primacy. The Resolution details the problems imposed on Sikkim for the past more than two decades because of the unresolved situation in the Darjeeling Hills. Visits by the Union Home Secretary, Orders of the Supreme Court, deployment of paramilitary forces along the highway and even the assurances of the bandh enforcers have delivered only piecemeal relaxations for Sikkim as far as free use of National Highway 31A, Sikkim’s only link to the rest of the country, is concerned. The Resolution states an obvious fact when it argues that only permanent resolution of the Gorkhaland issue will resolve Sikkim’s connectivity woes. As things stand, only statehood can bring in some period of peace and governance to Darjeeling. Arguing its support for Darjeeling from Sikkim’s stand-point, the State has also conveyed that the support is for the demand and the aspirations and not for the leaders or their politics. Because Sikkim’s situation, vis a vis the problems in Darjeeling, drives the Resolution, it also keeps the door open for Sikkim to continue seeking assistance to keep itself connected, whether in the Courts or in the Ministries in New Delhi, as and when the leaders in Darjeeling or their foot-soldiers along the highway have another temperamental change of mind. That, however, is for later; for now, a gesture has been made and it remains to be seen whether Darjeeling reciprocates with more than just press statements expressing gratitude.