Editorial

Complete 17 With Honest Appraisal
The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front Government turns seventeen today. The observance of the anniversary can be expected to be more muted than the celebrations of the past years, coming as it does in the wake of an unprecedented earthquake, the healing and repairs for which are far from over. Irrespective of the scale of celebrations, to be fair to the party, it deserves to congratulate itself. Seventeen years of peaceful reign is something that not even the monarchy enjoyed in Sikkim.
The Namgyal dynasty, ever since its inception, was either hounded by incursions by ambitious and martial neighbours or troubled by durbar conspiracies and later by the high-handed British and an over-bearing India. Democracy did not guarantee smooth sailing for governments either. Let’s start with the first term – LD Kazi was running on an extension in 1979 when the notorious Bill of 1979, rearranging the seat reservation system, got tabled and the man who heralded democracy into Sikkim, found his near total majority in the Assembly reduced to a minority. In the over five years that he was in office, political exigencies saw him hitch his leaning to three parties and still he had to eventually leave office not on the expiry of his term but through a resignation. The next Chief Minister, Nar Bahadur Bhandari, even though he was a chief minister for three terms, went through three political parties during his fourteen year rule. He started off with Sikkim Janata Party in 1979, merged with the Congress [I] mid-way, was removed in 1984 and returned with Sikkim Sangram Parishad in 1984. He went through politically trying times which eventually cost him his government in 1994 when he was evicted from power with six months of his term still left. When the SDF was voted into power in 1994, it arrived to a history of frequently shifting political fortunes; and now as it reaches the fag of its teen years in power, it commands recognition for having survived this long. Governments in our country don’t stay around for this long any more, but the SDF Govt in Sikkim has not only survived minor hiccups without things getting out of hand, but has also grown in strength with each election, that too with clean hands, because not only was the last assembly election largely without violence, there were no reports of rigging and the counting was obviously fair.
But while celebrations and back-slapping are expected and okay on this anniversary, the party and its government owe the State and its people an honest exercise in self-appraisal. The party arrived into power in 1994 on the promise of change and succeeded remarkably in running with the same plank even in Elections-2009 when it undertook a major revamp and presented more new candidates for the people than had debuted in the Assembly in SDF colours in 1994. The voters stood by SDF and endorsed their faith in its promises yet again and handed over the first 32/32 electoral victory for the party. Almost immediately, the party snubbed the sweeping verdict with a self-goal and the Legislative Assembly continues to meet with one legislator less. While dissidence and rebellion are neither new to politics nor to the SDF, this is arguably the first time that a sitting MLA of the party is leading the Opposition on the streets with any consequence. At the end of the day, this is an intra-party management issue and should not affect the people who, it must be accepted, have elected a party into power and not its individual constituents. Party politics can play out on the streets and at public meetings and should not be allowed to affect governance and policy-making. When the party appraises its Government, it should pay special attention to its latest term in office. The absolute control handed over by the people was obviously in expectations of more radical changes. The politicians know best what the people aspire for, so they should know what is expected of them. Admittedly, the new term has presented more challenges. For one, it began with the SDF no longer in a position to blame past regimes for anything that had or was going wrong [this is after all its 4th term in office] and realising that it had no Opposition to blame for delays in policy-making or delivery. Natural calamities, which peaked with the September earthquake, have been more distracting the past few years and then there have been the administrative and jurisdictional changes with more empowered panchayats and creation of urban local bodies. The Government was also looking back at a party which had been in power for so long that the intensity which had powered its connect with the people was dulling. The youth which was handpicked to sit in office in the SDF’s fourth term was obviously as much to shake off this ennui as to inject governance and development with new energy. On this Government Formation Day, the party and its government should revisit that potential it carried in the year 2009 and decide how it has delivered on it. The present Government is only mid-way through its term, an honest appraisal and course-correction, if required, is what not only the people of Sikkim, but also a government that has been at the helm for 17 years now, deserves.