Sikkimese Nepali Row: Bhaichung Bhutia wants CM Tamang to apologise to people of Sikkim

The row over Supreme Court’s observation on Sikkimese Nepali as “Persons of Foreign Origin” is refusing to die down even after the apex court deciding to remove its remark from its judgment of January 13.

Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) Bhaichung Bhutia today came out all guns blazing against Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, demanding that he must apologize to the people of the Himalayan state.

In an exclusive interview with Northeast Live, Bhaichung Bhutia pointed out that since the lawyers representing Government of Sikkim and the Government of India had apologized before the Supreme Court, the PS Tamang government should also tender an apology.

Bhutia said, “Because the represented lawyers of Govt of Sikkim and GoI had accepted that their faults and they apologized before the Supreme Court, it is a responsibility and more important as a Chief Minister to say sorry to the people of Sikkim.”

Adding more to this, Bhaichung Bhutia said, “A special assembly was convened yesterday and at first he (PS Tamang) should have accepted the mistake just like the lawyers accepted it before the Supreme Court. It was very important for him to say this.”

The footballer turned politician speaking about the Special Assembly session said,”yesterday’s special Assembly session was just to have chai and biscuits (tea and biscuits).”

The HSP president also alleged that Chief Minister PS Tamang had given his personal interests the first priority which led to the Supreme Court observation on the Sikkimese Nepali.

On being asked about his opinion on whether the SKM had shifted the blame to the previous SDF government for the current situation, Bhaichung Bhutia said, “During the regime of the previous government when the case was in the Court, 20 dates were there for hearing during the 8 years, but during SKM rule of 2-3 years there were 25 days fixed for hearing. Why did SKM take so many dates? Because SKM had a self interest, personal interest. This is known to everyone. I don’t want to speak about every Old Settler, but we fully support the tax rebate on every old settler, but among them there are one or two who have resorted to many wrongdoings.”

Bhutia further added, “These wrongdoings happened as Chief Minister himself was hand in glove, we are witness to this. To do these kinds of things CM (PS Tamang) had his own personal interest and the historical blunders are an outcome of his personal interest.”