Sikkim: Ruling SKM lashes out at opposition, says Pawan Chamling excels in playing mind game

Lashing out at the opposition party Sikkim Democratic Front ( SDF ) , the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha ( SKM ) on January 14 said that Pawan Chamling excels in playing mind game. SKM said that Chamling has mastered this art over the course of thirty years.

"Pawan Chamling lighting a candle inside the Assembly, purportedly in search of democracy too, was a farce. It was a farce because Pawan Chamling dared to execute this theatrics only when former Chief Minister N.B. Bhandari was beleaguered and was losing his grip on power.", SKM said.

The party alleged that Pawan Chamling went on to head one of the most ruthless government, Sikkim has ever had. During Pawan Chamling's tenure  opposition leaders disappeared, newspapers questioning him were banned, journalists fatally attacked, opposition leaders and students brutally lathicharged, the party said.

"That was the mind game Pawan Chamling deployed way back in 1993, and succeeded in hoodwinking the Sikkimese people into believing his carefully orchestrated theatrics as his crusade for democracy so much so that his deliberate attempt at sowing seeds of communal distrust amongst the Sikkimese people by distributing Gayatri Mantr was, to the detriment of Sikkim's social fabric, ignored by a majority of the people. Sikkim is still paying a price for it.", SKM said.

"The Sikkimese people immediately woke up to the cruel realisation after SDF won the 1994 elections and let loose a reign of terror.", SKM said.

The ruling party said that Chamling unleashed terror upon those who dared exposing his government steeped in rampant corruption, nepotism and communal politics.

They said that fast forward to 2023, Pawan Chamling is still struggling to ride to power playing his same old trick of mind game even after three decades. Pawan Chamling is parroting the same old chant of saving Sikkim and restoring democracy that he failed to accomplish even after two and half decades in power, SKM said.

"When he failed to keep his MLAs together after the 2019 debacle, Pawan Chamling bitterly accused his MLAs of deserting him while his MLAs have publicly denied his accusation as baseless and instead accused him of his inability to lead them as the leader of opposition. Pawan Chamling's arrogant refusal to attend the Assembly was the final straw that led to his desertion by his own MLAs.", SKM said.

"Pawan Chamling's failure to fulfil his role as strong opposition was not only felt by his MLAs but even by his own supporters, too.", it added.

"Pawan Chamling is now drumming up some of his own supporters coming back to SDF from other parties as SDF's resurgence, which is nothing but a farce, a desperate attempt at playing mind game to send out a message that SDF is strengthening. This is an utter lie. The reality is that SDF isn't even a pale shadow of 2019 and doesn’t stand a chance against SKM which has grown from strength to strength in the last four years.", SKM said.

"With a reduced support base and many of its prominent leaders and grassroots supporters opting to join SKM, Pawan Chamling is left with no choice but to indulge in mind game and propaganda in his desperate bid to portray an emaciated SDF as a force to reckon with, but the Sikkimese people are no longer gullible as they used to be when Pawan Chamling began his political career by bamboozling them.", SKM further added.