Last Updated: November 18, 2023, 23:49 IST
Gangtok (incl. Upper Tadong), India
File Image of Sikkim Assembly (AIR)
Hundreds of Limboo and Tamang men and women carrying banners and placards marched through the streets of Jorethang town demanding that the Prem Singh Tamang government fulfil its poll promise to provide reservations for the two communities in the SLA
The Limboo-Tamang Voluntary Committee (LTVC) on Saturday staged a protest march in the Jorethang town of West Sikkim to press for reservation of the two tribal communities in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly (SLA).
Hundreds of Limboo and Tamang men and women carrying banners and placards marched through the streets of Jorethang town demanding that the Prem Singh Tamang government fulfil its poll promise to provide reservations for the two communities in the SLA.
“The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) government should either give us a reservation in the state legislature or else quit,” a woman protester was heard as saying in a video footage.
On the recommendation of the then Pawan Kumar Chamling government, the central government had provided tribal status to two communities in 2003, but the reservation in the state legislature has eluded them even 20 years later.
“The Limboo Tamang community has already achieved tribal status, but we are fighting for separate reserved seats in the state assembly,” B B Chong, the executive joint secretary of LTVC told reporters on the sidelines of the protest march.
Serving an ultimatum to the Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, who himself belongs to the Tamang community, to resolve the vexed issue before the next assembly polls, he threatened a forceful social agitation to seek the legitimate demand.
The LTCV office-bearer said the two communities have a population of one lakh. The ruling SKM leaders could not be reached for their comments on protests on the Limboo-Tamang reservation issue.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
