'Foreigner' tag on Sikkimese people is the biggest blunder of SKM Government: Bhaichung Bhutia

Hamro Sikkim Party Chief Bhaichung Bhutia on February 10 said that distortion of Sikkimese identity and the tag "immigrant" to the Nepali community are two historical blunders of the SKM government in the last four years. He said that the SKM Government failed to fulfill the aspirations and remained unfruitful and added that SKM is a toothless government and has no power.

Addressing media in Gangtok , the Hamro Sikkim Party Chief said that Supreme Court had said that it is not their mistake that the "immigrant tag " was put on the people of Sikkim. Instead, the Solicitor General and Government of Sikkim accepted the mistake and said sorry to Supreme Court.

He said that Sikkim Chief Minister should have asked for apology from the people of Sikkim in the Assembly. But, rather than asking for sorry, the Sikkim Chief Minister is taking credit for removing the tag and misguiding the people of Sikkim. 

He added that he is thankful to the people of Sikkim for fighting and actively taking part in rallies and dharna demanding the removal of Immigration tag. He expressed his displeasure over the lawyer who was representing the Government of Sikkim and Government of India for not fighting for the definition of Sikkimese identity. 

"Supreme court deleted the word 'people of foreign origin" But who are we now? what are we now ? ..we are the people of Sikkim. We want clarity in that." added Bhaichung Bhutia.

The Sikkimese-Nepalis were referred to as being of "foreign origin" in the Supreme Court's verdict that was issued on January 13 in a dispute involving Sikkim's tax exemption. This reference was removed on January 8 after an uproar. 

The Centre, the Sikkim government, and a group of Sikkimese-Nepalese people who asked the court to modify the order filed a petition, and a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna agreed to delete the reference.

In this case, tax exemptions were extended to Sikkimese women who wed people from outside the state and to long-time residents whose names had not been entered in a Sikkim Subjects Register.

The tax-exemption judgment was delivered by a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna. The controversial portion was in the ruling authored by Justice Nagarathna which said - "Therefore, there was no difference made out between the original inhabitants of Sikkim, namely the Bhutia-Lepchas and the persons of foreign origin settled in Sikkim like the Nepalis or persons of Indian origin who had settled down in Sikkim generations back".