Gangtok: The Limboo Tamang Voluntary Committee on Friday
rejected the Sikkim government's proposal for reserving seats in the
Assembly for the Limboos and Tamangs and demanded that the quota for the
two communities be given not as Scheduled Tribes, but in the same
manner seats have been reserved for the Bhutias and Lepchas.
Twelve
of the 32 Assembly seats in the state are reserved for the Bhutias and
Lepchas not because they are Scheduled Tribes, but as a sequel to a
political agreement in 1973 among the Government of India, ex-Chogyal of
Sikkim and political parties, which was a precursor to the formal
merger of the former kingdom with India in 1975.
LTVC president
Yehang Tshong said the government's proposal to increase the numbers of
the Aseembly seats from 32 to 40, and reserve five seats for the Limboos
and Tamangs was not acceptable to them. "We want seats to be reserved
for the Limboos and Tamangs from the present 32. Seats should not be
reserved for us as tribals under Article 332 of the Indian Constitution,
but as Limboos and Tamangs under the ambit of Article 371F of the
Constitution," he said. Article 371F provides special status to Sikkim.
The
Limbus and Tamangs were given the tribal status in 2003, but seats for
them are yet to be reserved in the Assembly as required by the
Constitution of India.
The B. K. Roy Burman Commission set up by the state government in its
report in 2008 had recommended that all Nepali speaking communities
should be given the tribal status, and the strength of the Sikkim
Assembly should be increased from the 32 to 40 seats. The report, which
was endorsed by the state government, had also suggested that 20 seats
from the increased strength should be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes,
12 for Bhutias and Lepchas, 2 for sangha, which is a body of monks, and
2 for the Scheduled Castes.
The Sikkim chief minister Pawan
Chamling in a memorandum submitted to the Centre in 2016 had also made
an alternative temporary proposal till such time all the Nepali
communities were given the tribal status. The proposal, too, demanded
that the number of seats be increased to 40, and 5 seats from the
increased pool should be reserved for the Limbus and Tamangs.
Both
the Sikkim government and the Sikkim Limboo Tamang Apex Committee
(Siltac), which is another lobby of the two communities backed by the
Sikkim Democratic Party, have been claiming that their quota demand
would soon be met by Delhi.
The LTVC, however, remained
sceptical. "We hope the chief minister will ensure seats for the Limboos
and Tamangs within two months, as promised by him recently," said
Tshong wryly before joining other members of the LTVC in burning the
copies of the 2016 state government memorandum as a mark of protest.
The Telegraph
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