Brazenness of attackers sends out worrying signs

GANGTOK, 08 Nov: That the perpetrators of the attack on the NOW! office are still under police remand is partly due to the joint effort of the entire press fraternity of Sikkim and more so the commitment of the police not to allow any compromises in the case.
The attack on the office of the newspaper late on the night of 07 November by the losing SDF candidate of Tingmoo Ghaikhana ward under Kabi Tingda constituency, Bibi Doma Tamang, in which the office furniture and other items were damaged is being unanimously condemned as a dangerous trend suggestive of political parties, especially the ruling front, which are growing intolerant, even of the truth.
Bibi Doma Tamang and her supporters swooped down on the Sikkim NOW! office last evening and threw rocks and stones, threatening the office staff and challenging them. It had only been a few minutes since the last of the staff had left and the office closed down. They then courted arrest by Tadong police out-post personnel, convinced at the time that the party bosses above them will get them out on bail early enough the next morning.
This was exposed when the PA of the area MLA [Kabi Tingda], Minister TT Bhutia, Tankyo Bhutia, appeared at the Sadar Thana in the morning to make bail for the five accused. That however did not come through, but the attempt attracted attention because it bore out the brazenness with which the attack was planned, with the accused reportedly announcing their plans in advance and calling on their seniors to get them out of the lock up after they had carried out the attack.
As soon as the incident was over, the perpetrators surrendered to the police smiling and still taunting the press in the knowledge that they would be out the next morning without much fuss. It is this attitude and support that is disturbing to the peace-loving people of the state.
Apart from condemnations, it is expected of the area MLA in question to at least own up moral responsibility for the incident and apologise to the media in Sikkim for the attack by party workers from his constituency.
As explained elsewhere in this paper, the attackers launched such a vicious attack on the basis of a perceived slight. Their grouse was that the newspaper had wrongly mentioned the number of votes by which the SDF candidate had lost in the ward panchayat election. As it turns out, this was not an incident of wrong reporting, but the statement of votes as handed out by the DC North on 05 November. The winning Independent candidate, the accused contend, had secured 137 votes but the official figures record 257 votes [as reported in the paper] whereas the vote share of the losing SDF candidate was given as 120 when it should have been 121.
Such a thin veil of tolerance, especially on the part of the ruling front, is unsafe, dangerous and a threat to the efforts being put in by all sections of society to put Sikkim into the mainstream, and also, as people are wont to say, a setback to tourism.