BIRAJ SAY.................................... Most people do know that article 371f was inserted into the Indian constitution vide the 36th Amendment Act, 1975. Most would also know that when the constitution is amended, there is a process, of which perhaps, the most important are the debates regarding the amendment on the floor of the parliament. But few in Sikkim seem to realize that there was indeed such a debate for Sikkim before the constitution was finally amended and article 371f inserted.
And everyone would be surprised to know that what is happening in Sikkim today was seen clearly by the Visionary Parliamentarians three decades back and had therefore justified the provisions as they are in the article.It is pathetic that our local Government is almost apologetic when it comes to Article 371f and its implementation, and has in fact passed numerous laws which in effect dilute the provisions of the article.
But it would not be so if they were to read some of the arguments put forth during the debates, like the excerpt below from the oration of Shri Samar Mukherjee, an eminent CP(M) MP of those days, who had the following to say:
“Let me express my fears and apprehensions. These are matters of very serious consequences. You have to understand it. India is dominated by big business, by monopolists, hoarders, profiteers. So they want that all land would come under their purview, under their field of exploitation.
So, they are very much interested that Sikkim should be part of India. And this constitutional amendment will give them ample scope immediately purchase lands and to purchase this management of the cardamom plantations and they will turn themselves to be the exploiters there afterwards. What would be the feeling of the Sikkimese people? They will be the victims of the terrible exploitations and they will look to India not as friends but, as exploiters and anti-Indian feelings are bound to rise and that will create further estrangement in the relations between the people of Sikkim and the people of India. Apart from international consequences, these implications are of serious consequence and the people of Sikkim will actually become, and they have become, the object of exploitation of the Indian vested interests and big business.”
What is happening today in Sikkim, especially regarding the transfer of lands, is a glaring example of the nexus between big money and unscrupulous companies as prophesized above in the parliamentary debates. The amount of money we are talking about is around 40,000 crores and we have every type of companies, including courier companies, noodle companies, non-existent companies and companies without any experience all bidding for building huge dams and hydel generating stations and destroying our environment in the process.
I have taken the example of the old land laws of Sikkim as an example because most seem to think these laws are very stringent, but they forget that even these have been debated and justified before being inserted in the constitution and the same is the case for all the other provisions of Article 371f. The point I am trying to make is that whatever the man on the street might think, we do have tough laws and most were inserted there to stop us being exploited by big money power and unscrupulous businessmen from the other parts of the country. But despite this, in the last three decades we have landed in the very position the parliamentarians warned would happen three decades ago, and we the Sikkimese people, meekly agree to anything our Government, influenced by such big companies, tells us is good for us, and we are slowly getting swamped in our own lands.
The point is, the people of Sikkim should realize that the constitution was amended and the inclusion of article 371f was justified so that we, the people of Sikkim, could be protected till the time we came upto the economic standards of the rest of the country and ultimately get integrated into the mainstream. But the question remains, are we really getting “emotionally integrated” as our political leaders would have us believe? Or are we the victims of exploitation in the garb of integration, despite provisions in the constitutions, which were put into place to save us from exactly the same sort of exploitation?
Biraj Adhikari
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