GANGTOK, SEPT 25: Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang-Golay on Thursday categorically ruled out any possibility of a merger between Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills, asserting that his government would protect the State’s territorial integrity and its distinct identity.
Addressing the Indra Jatra celebrations of the Newar community in Gangtok, Tamang said there is “no chance of merger” and that Sikkim would not surrender even an inch of its territory for the creation of any separate statehood arrangement.
“There is no chance of merger. We stand by our stand. We will not let an inch of land [be taken] to create separate statehood. We will preserve Sikkim’s distinct identity as it is,” the Chief Minister said.
His remarks come amid renewed public debate in Sikkim over a proposed political roadmap for addressing the long-pending demand for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills. A preliminary discussion draft circulated earlier had referred to a possible fourth pathway involving a separate North Bengal state and/or contiguous areas of neighbouring States, triggering concerns in Sikkim over its possible territorial implications. Prof Mahendra P. Lama has subsequently said that the draft did not envisage Sikkim’s inclusion and that the contentious option was not part of the final document submitted to the Centre.
Tamang said the controversy surrounding the so-called merger issue had created unnecessary strain in the relationship between people of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills.
He appealed against what he described as propaganda that could disturb the existing social harmony between the neighbouring regions.
“Such propaganda should not be carried out to spoil Sikkim. The social harmony and good relations between the people of Sikkim and Darjeeling hills have to be maintained,” he said.
The Chief Minister also linked the controversy to the ongoing demand for Scheduled Tribe status for 12 left-out indigenous communities of Sikkim.
According to Tamang, those spreading such narratives had their own political agenda and were attempting to create an obstruction to the State’s efforts to secure ST recognition for the 12 communities.
The State government has been pursuing the issue for several years. A Sikkim State High-Level Committee, headed by Prof B.V. Sharma with Prof Mahendra P. Lama as Vice-Chairman, prepared ethnographic reports on the 12 communities. The final reports were submitted to the State government in April 2025.
Defending his Chief Economic Advisor, Prof Mahendra P. Lama, Tamang said the State government had prepared an anthropological/ethnographic report as part of its efforts to secure tribal recognition for the 12 communities.
He said the government would submit its report to the Centre after the Durga Puja, next month.
The Chief Minister also said the government was currently working on various vision documents, including the long-term Sikkim Vision @2047. Prof Lama is currently serving as Emeritus and Chief Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister and chairman of the Executive Committee preparing the Vision Document.
Tamang stressed that the government’s focus remained on development, social harmony and protection of Sikkim’s distinctive constitutional and cultural identity.
The Chief Minister has previously maintained that Sikkim’s constitutional identity is protected under Article 371F, while also ruling out any merger with Darjeeling.
The latest statement comes at a time when the Darjeeling statehood debate and the demand for tribal recognition among Nepali-speaking communities in Sikkim and neighbouring West Bengal have increasingly overlapped in public discourse. The Sikkim government has previously participated in joint discussions with representatives from West Bengal on the tribal-status demand, while maintaining that its own high-level committee deals specifically with Sikkim’s 12 left-out communities.
अनलाइन् खबर पत्रिका तथ्य जाँच र आचारसंहिता प्रतिवेदन:
यो सामग्री हाम्रा सम्पादक टोलीद्वारा तथ्य प्रमाणीकरण र प्रेस काउन्सिल अफ इन्डिया आचारसंहिता बमोजिम प्रकाशित गरिएको हो।
