FEATURE: Must Sikkim suffer bandh onslaught?

FROM THE STATESMAN

BY JIGME N KAZI

The writer is editor, Sikkim Observer

THE recent three-day bandh (14-16 May) in neighbouring Darjeeling and Siliguri forced the Sikkim governemnt to sit up and take notice. While chief minister Pawan Chamling was away, acting chief minister RB Subba convened a high-level meeting on 15 May to review and take stock of essential commodities in the state during the bandh.

This meeting, also attended by chief secretary, TT Dorji, took note of the proposed 10-day bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha next month (12-21 June). “The chief secretary also apprised the meeting about the latest situation and further directed the food and civil supplies department and the transport department to take immediate action for (the) procurement and transportation of essential commodities,” an official release said.

Unfortunately, despite the Supreme Court’s directives against closure of National Highway 31A, which links Sikkim with the rest of the country, during bandhs a number of state vehicles plying this route were vandalised during the recent two-day bandh. The state government has demanded immediate action against the miscreants.

“NH 31A legal shield smashed”, screamed a headline in a local daily during the two-day bandh which left at least 10 Sikkim-bound vehicles damaged. Even a press vehicle carrying newspapers from Siliguri to Gangtok was not spared. However, given the manner in which vehicles are attacked on the highway, it is very difficult to blame any particular party. Travelling along the 110-km national highway between Gangtok and Siliguri, a major commercial centre in North Bengal, takes around three hours and nearly two hours of this falls within “Gorkhaland” territory.

Gorkhaland activists, their faces half-covered with cloth, appear suddenly on the sides of the road, attack vehicles and then disappear into the jungle. They normally adopt hit-and-run tactics so they are not caught, not even by those in uniform.

When Sikkim has always been very sympathetic to the causes, including the statehood demand, espoused by Gorkhas/Nepalese living in the Darjeeling hills, why is it being targeted? “The blame goes to Chamling who filed a petition in the Supreme Court for non-closure of the highway during bandhs,” a Gorkha activist told a group of reporters who were travelling from Gangtok to Siliguri during a recent bandh. He added, “You Press people understand that while Sikkim’s annual budget is around Rs 5,000 crore, we get a meagre Rs 150 crore.”

One of the main reasons for the statehood agitation is the affluent lifestyle of the Nepalese in Sikkim who are in the majority. A section of them, originally from the Darjeeling hills, settled in Sikkim during the merger era in the 1970s. The poor economic condition of the Gorkhas in Darjeeling, whose population is almost three times that of Sikkim (about 550,000) as compared to their brethren in Sikkim, has been a cause for concern and a motivating factor for the statehood demand.

As the temporary solution to the Gorkhaland agitation through the proposed interim administrative set-up is yet to be reached due to the authorities’ reluctance to include the Dooars and Terai regions in the proposed package, Sikkim’s apprehensions during bandhs seems justifiable.

Chamling, though a Nepali and perhaps sympathetic towards the Gorkha cause, has to ensure that his state does not suffer as a result of bandhs called by Gorkha leaders and their opponents in the plains of North Bengal. First, Sikkim is a landlocked state and its only link with the country is through NH 31A. Second, the tourism sector, Sikkim’s economic backbone, is always drastically affected during bandhs. So, what is the solution?

“In Assam, Army protection to civilians during bandhs, aparticularly to travellers, is very good. Police and Army personnel not only guard the highways, convoys of armed forces move along with civilian vehicles to ensure their safety. Can the authorities do the same here?” asked a local businessman.

The proposed deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force along the highway during the forthcoming 10-day bandh will surely help towards ensuring an open highway. “We are concerned, particularly against the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court order to ensure normal traffic flow along the National Highway (31A) during the statehood agitations continuing in Darjeeling hills,” Inspector-General (North Bengal Police), KL Tamta said after last week’s bandh. However, fears of what might happen along the highway will persist despite police protection.