‘Foreigner’ tag now removed permanently: Golay

BIJOY GURUNG

“Old settlers entitled to IT relief only”
GANGTOK,: Chief Minster P.S. Golay on Thursday asserted that the past SDF government for 25 years milked the foreigner tag on Sikkimese Nepalis – a stain which has now been permanently removed by the Supreme Court during the SKM government.
Addressing the special Assembly session, the Chief Minister shared about the strategic and technical steps taken by the Sikkim government after the Supreme Court referred Sikkimese Nepalis as ‘foreigners’ in its January 13 verdict on a 2013 writ petition filed by the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS) seeking income tax exemption. This stain has now been permanently removed by the Supreme Court after hearing the review petitions due to the steps taken by the Centre and Sikkim government, he said.
“As stated by the members today, this is not a new issue and has been going on for 29 years. Many so-called leaders did politics on this and reached the government. They ran the government for 25 years but never took it seriously. They only keep this issue alive to form and run the government,” said Golay.
Golay, also the Leader of the House, was responding to comments and concerns made by the members during discussions on a government resolution in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.
Lone opposition MLA and former Chief Minister Pawan Chamling also took part in the discussions and then left the session.
“The former Chief Minister should be present here to listen but he placed his statements and ran away. He should have stayed back to hear the misdeeds about his past government but he does not have the courage to hear criticism. A leader should be able to digest both ‘zindabad’ and ‘murdabad’ slogans”, said Golay.
‘Only IT exemption for old settlers, no other Sikkimese rights’
In his reply to the discussions, the Chief Minister assured the House that the old settlers of Sikkim have got income tax exemption only at par with the Sikkimese. This exemption is only for income tax and not for anything else, even the court has stated this, he said.
Our intention is clear; we will not allow even a scratch on the Sikkimese definition and Article 371F, asserted Golay. The State government is waiting for the full judgment copy on the review petition, he said adding that the government will study and take legal steps if any adverse impact is noted on Article 371F.
Golay shared that the old settlers
“Did not acted hastily, took a strategic & technical approach”
After widespread public discontentment over the ‘foreigner’ tag and perceived dilution of ‘Sikkimese’ definition, the Chief Minister spoke about his persistent appeals to the people to have patience as it is “just a matter of time” that this issue will be “addressed for good”. He also recorded in the House his commitment given to a Joint Action Council (JAC) delegation.
“I had told the people not to have panic. I had told the JAC that is also our issue, we will remove this tag and if unable to do so, we will leave the government. The government did not remain idle after the judgment came. We immediately established contacts with the Centre. We did not wanted to a haste job, we wanted to win this technically and move forward strategically with the Centre,” said Golay while responding to Upper Burtuk MLA DR Thapa’s contentions during the discussions.
Thapa, also the State BJP president, had questioned why the State government did not raise the issue related with ‘Sikkimese’ term during the review petition. “In the first case, our advocates did not clarify and the review petition was a good opportunity given that even the Union government was helping. The very definition of Sikkimese has changed,” he said adding that the State government did not act proactively while stating that the government resolution proposed in the Assembly was “vague”.  
In reply, the Chief Minister handed over the copy of the review petition and related documents to the Upper Burtuk MLA and requested him to properly study the submissions made by the State government on all these concerns. He countered that the State government was not sleeping on the issue and had filed review petition on February 2 itself, as mentioned by Thapa.
“We immediately contacted the Centre but we do not believe in advertising everything we do. We were not sleeping in the issue. I was serious on this as I am also from the community which got labelled as ‘foreigner’. I contacted the government of India and prepared a strategy for the court appeal,” he said. He shared that the issues were covered respectively by the Solicitor General of India and the State government counsels.
‘Dr. Sharma trying to be a hero by telling lies’
The Chief Minister also commented on SKM legislator Dr. Mani Kumar Sharma, who had recently resigned from the State cabinet citing that the State government was not serious on the ‘foreigner’ tag issue.
Dr. Sharma is said to have filed a review petition also but it has not come to the court’s notice, said Golay adding that his resignation was a good step. However, Dr. Sharma should be here in the Assembly and working for the people in Sikkim, instead of staying in plush accommodation in Delhi and trying to be a hero by telling lies to the people, he said.