Former Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling, now an MLA, was on Monday removed from the Assembly during a special session and escorted out by marshals, in the rerun of an 11-year-old incident.
Chamling, who also heads the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), the main party in Opposition, was registering his objections when chief minister P.S. Tamang was speaking on the recent Finance Act passed in the Lok Sabha on the income tax exemption of Sikkimese residents, said sources.
In 2012, when Tamang was an MLA of the SDF — he hadn’t yet floated his party, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha — and Chamling was the chief minister, Tamang was also marshalled out of the Assembly by then Speaker K.T. Gyalsen after being suspended from the House for certain statements to the media.
On Monday, a special session was convened at the Assembly to discuss certain clauses of the Act, which has led to repercussions in the Himalayan state with many fearing it would dilute the rights of the Sikkimese people.
“The identity and rights of Sikkimese have been compromised. I wanted to ask the government to look into the matter but I was removed from the Assembly. This is unfortunate,” said Chamling.
SKM leaders said that because of Chamling’s reactions, Speaker Arun Upreti had to adjourn the Assembly for 10 minutes.
“As the Assembly resumed, he (Chamling) went on interrupting the chief minister again,” one SKM leader said. Then, the Speaker asked Chamling to be marshalled out of the Assembly for the day.
Chief minister Tamang, when asked about the issue after the session, was brief in his reaction.
‘It is the Speaker who removed the member. Earlier, I was also removed from the Assembly once,” he said.
More arrests
Sikkim police have arrested eight more persons in connection with the violence that occurred in Singtam of Gangtok district on Saturday.
According to police sources, 15 persons have been arrested so far. The police are checking out the videos to identify those who perpetrated the violence.
Keshav Sapkota, the general secretary of the Joint Action Council, and Ajay Tamang, a local resident, were attacked during the incident.
