Over more than 15 years, Limboo Tamang Seat reservation has been one of the core issues which has remained unsolved.
LTVC, an organization working for reserving Limboo Tamang seat in Sikkim Legislative assembly, alleged SKM government of betrayal over the reservation. “SKM Party post 2019 election said that only SKM can deliver LT seat. The party had promised us that within 10 days Limboo Tamang seat reservation will be delivered but it’s has been 1055 days but they still have failed to deliver what they promised,” said Yahang Tsong.
“LTVC organized an all-party committee meeting on 16/09/2018. The meeting was attended by all the political and social welfare parties with the exception of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), Sikkim Limboo Tamang Apex Committee (SILTAC), and the Sikkim Limboo-Tamang Tribal Joint Action Committee (SLTTJAC) who also expressed their sympathies and support towards the issue of Limbu-Tamang seat reservation – even the SKM party was in attendance. All the attending parties agreed that the Limbu-Tamang communities should be given their constitutional right of representation in the state legislative assembly,” he added.
“Shri Birendra Tamling, Shri Uttam Lepcha, Shri Arun Upreti, Shri N.B. Gurung, Shri Bikash Basnet, and Shri Bikash Luksom, all representatives from the SKM party, attended this meeting. The SKM had devised a formula whereby the LT seat in the State legislative assembly would be guaranteed out of the existing 32 seats itself, contending with the previous formula provided by the SDF by which the overall number of seats would be increased from 32 to 40 out of which 5 would be reserved for LT communities.”
In addition, Tsong further stated that on September 22, 2018, Kunga Nima Lepcha, on behalf of the LTVC, presented a request letter to Narendra Modi who was conducting a tour of Sikkim at the time, beseeching him to kindly offer his assistance in the issue of the LT seat reservation in the State Legislative Assembly. “We would like to humbly request that the letter presented by Shri Kunga Nima Lepcha be made available to the general public.”
LTVC members further alleged that SKM took the issue only to win the 2019 polls. “In order to rise to power in 2019, the SKM party in their manifesto blamed the SDF party for their negligent attitude towards the issue and in turn swore to work for the welfare of the Limbu-Tamang communities with sincerity and alacrity and get them their rightful seat in the legislative assembly. They made the communities believe that their investment in the matter was genuine, that sincerity and honesty were the trademark characteristics of the SKM party, and thus won their trust. Because of this trust and faith in SKM, the Limbu-Tamang communities wholeheartedly supported the party and ensured that they won the 2019 state general elections, becoming the ruling state party,” said LTVC.
“It is clear from this that in 2019, the SKM party wielded the issue of the LT seat reservation in order to garner support from the communities during the general elections, a manipulative move that secured them their victory. In the present day, the SKM-BJP joint state government has still not taken any steps towards bringing justice to the Limbu-Tamang communities – why this neglect? Isn’t this behavior clearly discriminatory? The LTVC emphasizes that the aforementioned steps taken by the SKM government were evidently manipulatory tactics devised in order to keep the two communities from their constitutional right,” added the statement.
In conclusion, LTVC stressed that ‘only forceful social agitation is the only path left for to secure our legitimate demand – agitation is the only democratic path left’. LTVC said, “The Limbu-Tamang communities, who have been lied to for the past 20 years, will neither wait nor endure this neglect any longer. Forceful social agitation is the only path left for us to secure our legitimate demand – agitation is the only democratic path left, the only impactful way of bringing our demand in front of the government. We have decided that if no fair resolution is decided upon, despite our humble yet relentless demand for our constitutional right, then we will take to the streets in agitation. Therefore we, the LTVC, humbly appeal to all the Limbu and Tamang people, all the well-wishers of the communities, as well as the members of all the political parties of Sikkim, to kindly attend our upcoming rally and support us in solidarity in our rightful demand for our constitutional right.”
