Modi Sarkar, Not SDF, Failed the Limboo-Tamang Community of Sikkim: P.D. Rai

Gangtok: Prem Das Rai stood out in the annals of the Lok Sabha for being the first member to have entered parliament with degrees from an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

A senior leader of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) and the state’s lone representative in the Lok Sabha for the last two terms, Rai has been the progressive face of the party.

But this time around, the party has replaced Rai with a young face, D.B. Kattel, for the April 11 elections.

In an interview, Rai, also a senior spokesperson of his party, spoke to The Wire on the upcoming assembly elections and what state chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling would do if he returned to power for a sixth term in the Himalayan state. 

Edited excerpts:

SDF is talking about granting Universal Basic Income (UBI) to the people of Sikkim if it returns to power. How would you make it happen?

First of all, UBI is universal, which means every citizen of the state will be able to access it. Second, it is an income, not a grant. It is something which will be empowering, at least for the youth, because they would be able to leverage the income. For the older people, it would be useful, say, for their monthly medical expenses. That is why we thought about bringing it.

We will take three years to set it up, will have discussions with stakeholders and others from the gram panchayat level so that everybody is on board. It is not about squandering away wealth. It is about utilising wealth, ensuring that there is equal distribution, and in some ways, looking at the prosperity angle which gives people a new way of thinking about their future.

India is in the midst of having to grapple with the problem of unemployment. Same is true of Sikkim, Arunachal, Himachal, etc. In the mountain areas, it might be even more problematic. So we require greater amount of innovation today. UBI is one way through which the youth will be able to get some amount of income in their bank account on a monthly basis. It would empower them to make choices. They may say to the government, give us a job. We have just gone through the whole process of giving one family one job in the state.

But look at it this way: if we can distribute some of our best resources, such as hydropower and tourism which are nature-related income flowing into the government, among the people as a stakeholder income, it will be a great thing to do.

Also read: BJP Should Keep Pawan Chamling Away If It Wants an Alliance With Us: Bhaichung Bhutia

Is it a feasible idea?

It is a great leap of faith. In 1999, I remember my chief minister saying, we would make every Sikkimese a lakhpati. Today that prosperity has happened. The prosperity, when you go around the state, is visible. We say invisible is poverty, prosperity is visible.

So how do we sustain it? It can’t be done by the government alone which already has a role of regulation and helping people with basic needs, etc. To go beyond it, we will have to take the help of every individual; we need to tap the higher level of thinking and creativity that every highly educated young person brings to the workforce.

Your party leader, who is the country’s longest serving chief minister, is going for re-election. The opposition has put up a formidable fight. After five terms, there would likely be anti-incumbency against your party and its leader.

SDF is the largest and the most cadre-based party in Sikkim. We have cadres right down to the villages. When we lost 10 seats in 2014 elections, we learnt a big lesson. We were not then as prepared as we are now. The anti-incumbency narrative continues; we will face it because we worked most in the last five years than we perhaps did earlier. A large section of the youth, especially first-time voters, is with us. They have realised that their future is tagged to the prosperity and peace that we brought and it should continue.

The main opposition party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), unfortunately, have been using violent tactics to grab power. It tried to call a bandh. The high court had to step in to stop it. Even then, there was vandalisation of our party assets.

We actually have a convicted person as the leader of SKM. Party president P.S. Golay misappropriated money meant for the poor. It was former Congress chief minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari who took him to court. Later, they became friends but by then the case was already in the court. The conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court. He actually can’t fight the elections as per the rules. Now the question for SKM is: Who will lead it?

Golay entered into an alliance with the BJP, then opted out.

He shot himself in the foot. We know exactly how to work with the BJP, Congress or any other party at the Centre. You can call us a mature party. Mr Golay doesn’t understand the symmetry of power between BJP and his small party. Realising the odds, he had to opt out of the alliance. Today, the same BJP who he was going to make friends with and fight the elections, is calling them immature.

How can the people of Sikkim trust a party of this kind?

SDF promised in July 2018 that it would push the Modi government to grant Limboo-Tamang community reservation in the state assembly. The Centre didn’t deliver. Does it not look as the failure of your party in a way?

We had placed the demand to the Centre, which then decided that it wouldn’t it take up immediately. We need to see it in two ways. One, there was a Supreme Court ruling in 2016, directing the Centre to start the process. The ST status was granted to them in 2003 itself. Now we have come to 2019 and they still haven’t got their constitutional right.

It is the Modi sarkar that has failed the people of Sikkim. It is the Modi sarkar that is not taking this up. Not us. In fact, till the very last day, I hammered it in the parliament that they must get their constitutional right. The Centre had agreed to our position to expand the size of the assembly to 40 and reserve five seats for the community. Since it didn’t come, we decided to give five seats to them from the existing 32 seats.

Also read: Sikkim Chief Minister Chamling Seeks Tribal Status for 11 Communities

Secondly, it is not happening also for the forces within our state that approaches the Centre with differing arguments. Some people who have already got reservation of seats don’t want it happen. I think in the following five years, these arguments would mature, counter arguments would be understood and it would get done.

An SDF rally in Sikkim on March 20. Credit: Amanat Khullar/The Wire

Sikkim is considered a successful organic state. Last year, your government tried to promote the sale of only organic vegetables in the state by banning the entry of stock from West Bengal. It led to a huge shortfall of supply, pushing the government to step back. Do you think there is more to be done to make the organic story of Sikkim a success?

There were farmers who assured the government that they would provide the supplies to the consumer. The government is between the consumers and the farmers. So if we get that kind of assurance from the farmers and the groups practicing organic farming saying that the only thing they want is greater accessibility to the market, the best way to do that is to stop the supply of non-organic vegetables coming from outside the state.

When we did that, there was intervention from the consumers’ side as the prices had risen. I think we did an interesting thing by intervening between the consumer and the farmer; we showed to all the sides what could be the problem.

Now the question in front of all of us is, can we build the capacity to have the farmers grow more and tide over the difficulties? We want to reach that stage as more and more people have realised that taking organic food is healthy. Obviously, there’s a price point beyond which we cannot do this. We will have to work that out and let the markets determine what the price points would be.

Also read: How Bhutan Came to Not Be a Part of India

You have been representing Sikkim in Lok Sabha for the last decade. Being the lone MP to raise the concerns of the entire state in parliament must not have been easy. Still, is there any achievement that you want to highlight?

I represent a party guided by my leader and the people of Sikkim; I have to raise their voices in parliament. If you ask if I have done that effectively, I think yes. I have done this effectively using all the tools available within parliament. Parliament is a great place, where we have a lot of space to bring in issues that our state faces. And also to join others, talk about national issues. I think what is important is that we have done that effectively.

Whether there is any achievement of the state, such as Sikkim’s rise as an organic state, Sikkim’s image as a very positive, prosperous, peaceful and clean state, are something that at least the parliament has understood.

You were denied a party ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

I served as Sikkim MP for two terms. As per party norms, we are going for a new face. D.B. Kattel is a young advocate and I am sure he will be able to represent the voice of the people in parliament. I fully endorse his candidature. After ten years, I will be returning to state politics.

Will we see you playing a bigger role in state politics if SDF returns to power?

100% yes.