The Sikkim Democratic Front-government today quietly withdrew the disputed bill

Sikkim scraps public order bill

Sikkim/Gangtok, Aug. 26: The Sikkim Democratic Front-government today quietly withdrew the disputed bill that sought to ban hunger strikes and bandhs on the pretext of preserving public order.

Speaker K.T. Gyaltsen announced that a notice of motion for withdrawal of the Sikkim Prevention and Control of Disturbance of Public Order Bill had been received from the government on August 14.

The motion was put to vote and passed instantaneously following which the Speaker announced the bill as withdrawn.

Chief minister Pawan Chamling, who had tabled the Public Order bill on August 11, also joined the “ayes” for its withdrawal. The bill was to have been put to vote today in the Assembly where all 32 MLAs belong to the SDF. The Opposition parties had been protesting vociferously against the “black bill”, which also seeks to ban squatting, sloganeering and waving of black flags — anything with the potential to “harm public order”.

Governor Balmiki Prasad Singh had also “advised the state government to withdraw the bill”.The Opposition parties, which alleged that the bill had been introduced with the aim to suppress any democratic forms of protests in Sikkim, hailed the withdrawal as a “victory of the people”.

“It is a historic victory for the people. However, we cannot be confident that such bills will not be brought into the Assembly again and hence, the people need to remain alert,” said Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee acting president Kunga Nima Lepcha.

The BJP warned the people against being complacent. “It is a not a big issue that the SDF government has withdrawn the bill. It could again try to suppress the voices of the people with another bill. The people should not remain complacent,” said state BJP president Padam Chettri.

The Nagarik Adikhar Suraksha Sangathan Sikkim, which claims to be an apolitical forum, said the “bill was wrong”. “This is a victory of the people… the government was compelled to withdraw it despite face-saving statements given by SDF spokespersons,” said NASSS chief coordinator MN Dahal.

The NASSS had taken out a huge protest rally on Wednesday in Gangtok to demand its withdrawal in the Assembly.

The Assembly today passed the Sikkim Panchayat (Amendment) Bill which seeks to ensure 50 per cent reservation for women in gram panchayats and territorial constituencies of the zilla panchayats in Sikkim. 

-TT