Sikkim Democratic Front president Pawan Chamling on Thursday gave a call to his supporters to take to the streets and oppose the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha government tooth and nail.

Speaking at the 29th foundation day celebration of the SDF, Chamling said his party had been deliberately lying low for the past two years in order to enable the SKM government to govern without hindrance but the P.S. Tamang (Golay)-headed administration had done precious little since coming to power.

“The SKM government has only been scoring suicide goals at the cost of Sikkim. We will score goals at the right end and ensure Sikkim wins. We will now take to the field,” he said.

Accusing the SKM of indulging in the politics of intimidation, the SDF president asked his supporters not to be cowed down by threats. “You cannot practise politics by hiding, but you must hit the streets. We must oppose all the wrongs being done by this government,” he said, while urging the youths to front the campaign against the present dispensation.

Chamling, who had helmed Sikkim for 25 years as chief minister, was addressing his first public meeting in exactly a year. He and his party had been lying low for close to two years after SDF lost power to SKM in May 2019. Chamling had returned to Sikkim a couple of days ago after spending three-and-a-half months in Delhi.

His long absence had come in for criticism from both the SKM and his own supporters and leaders. In fact, 5,000 SDF supporters and leaders had recently shifted their allegiance to the SKM, citing the lack of Chamling’s leadership.

Chamling said his party henceforth would practise collective leadership and promised to leave behind a legacy from where the capable youths of Sikkim would take the state forward. “We want to hand over the responsibility of Sikkim to the capable youths of the state,” he asserted.

The SDF president admitted that his party supporters were traumatised by the defeat suffered at the hustings in 2019, but they had since recovered. “We might have overestimated ourselves. We might have had some flaws. But, this (the defeat) has provided an opportunity to rectify ourselves,” he said.

Listing a whole lot of unfulfilled promises made by the SKM, Chamling promised to lend all his support to the government if it seriously worked towards fulfilling them. “The SKM insulted us for not delivering on those issues and came to power. Yes, we failed to do so. Now the SKM must deliver,’ he added.