Former Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling says “Goons are running government here”

REPORTED BY PRAKASH ADHIKARI

The Opposition in Sikkim has escalated it’s attack on the ruling PS Tamang-led SKM government after the violence at Singtam where a JAC rally was attacked by unidentified miscreants on Saturday.

Former Chief Minister and SDF Chief Pawan Kumar Chamling speaking to Northeast Live reacting to yesterday’s incident alleged that resorting to violence is the pillar of strength for the incumbent government.

Chamling said,”This government is sustaining on the strength of violence. Assaulting people, triggering violence, duping people, threating the people has been it’s (SKM govt) strategy, it’s (SKM Govt) character.”

According to Chamling the law and order situation in the state is in shambles. The former 5-time Chief Minister said,”There is no law and order system in Sikkim today. The most insecured state in the entire nation is Sikkim. The Sikkimese people have no security at all. There is no government in Sikkim at all.”

If that was not all, Pawan Chamling went on to say that goons are at the helm of affairs as far as governance is concerned in the Himalayan state of Sikkim.

In this context he said,”Only goons are running the govt here. people have lost their trust and faith on the govt and the admin. So the Honourable Governor must take strong cognizance of this at the earliest and take some effective, positive steps so that people of Sikkim are safe.”

Speaking about his meeting with Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya yesterday after the Singtam incident, Chamling informed,”I said everything to the Governor when I met him yesterday telling him as to what is going on in Sikkim these days. I brought to his notice that there is no government (governance) in Sikkim, people are not safe, people are living under fear, so it is the duty of the Governor to come forward and use the Special Powers as the Governor of Sikkim so that peace can be restored in Sikkim.”

Intesifying his attack on the Prem Singh Tamang-led SKM government, Chamling said that Sikkim is in unrest, since there is a government based on ‘Political Terrorism,’ while he reffered to the fact that he has been attacked at least 68 times so far.

Chamling said,”I have been attacked 68 times so far and I have filed FIR in the police stations on every occasion but till date there has been no inquiry into none of the incidents, no culprits behind the attacks have been arrested and from this it is well proved that there is a government based on ‘Political Terrorism’ and there is unrest in Sikkim today. The power of the government is in the clutches of the goons.”

The SDF Chief’s response came after he took stock of the health condition of Joint Action Council General Secretary Keshav Sapkota at the Central Referral Hospital, Manipal.

It may be mentioned that, sharp reactions have poured in after the Joint Action Council (JAC)’s rally held yesterday morning in Singtam, turned ugly when the rally came under attack and general secretary of the JAC, Keshav Sapkota was chased and brutally kicked, punched and beaten up by unidentified men.
Ex-MLA and SDF leader Mechung Bhutia, who was part of the rally, was also injured in the attack.

The JAC which is supported by civil society organisations and NGOs opposing the altering of the Sikkimese term in the Finance Act, 2023 and opposition political parties including the Hamro Sikkim Party and Sikkim Democatic Front, organised the rally to voice concerns over expansion of thedefinition of the term ‘Sikkimese’ in the Finance Act, 2023.