A joint committee comprising representatives of Sikkim and Darjeeling has been formed under the aegis of Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista to demand tribal status to left-out Gorkha communities.
The meeting chaired by Golay was held in Siliguri on Sunday where representatives of the tribal communities from Sikkim and Darjeeling were present along with some Sikkim cabinet ministers.
“This is a historic and apolitical meeting. We have decided to form a joint action team for tribal status from Sikkim and Darjeeling consisting of five members each from Sikkim and Darjeeling,” said Golay.
The team will jointly work to prepare the ethnographic report for communities demanding ST status.
In Sikkim and Darjeeling, the communities demanding tribal status are Kirat/Khambu/Rai, Gurung, Mangar, Thami, Sanyasi (Jogi), Bahun, Chhetri, Bhujel, Kirat/Dewan, Sunuwar and Newar.
Apart from the 11, the Sikkim's Majhi community also seeks tribal status.
“There are 11 communities demanding tribal status in Darjeeling and 12 in Sikkim. If representatives from Sikkim and Darjeeling can work together to get Nepali language recognised in the Constitution (in 1992) and get tribal status for Tamang and Limbu communities (in 2002), why can’t we work together now?” Golay asked.
The demand for tribal status enjoys immense support in the region. The BJP even listed it in the party's 2019 Lok Sabha poll manifesto.
However, recently Union tribal minister Jual Oram, in a letter to Sikkim Rajya Sabha member Dorjee Tshering Lepcha, stated that the demand of granting tribal status to 12 communities in Sikkim and other Gorkha dominated states had not been considered by the Registrar General of India (RGI).
The letter to Sikkim MP Lepcha was in consonance with the communication that residents and leaders of Darjeeling have been receiving for the last couple of years.
The letter stated that norms of proposals recommended and justified by the state government/UT could be processed and concurred by the RGI and the National Commission for Schedule Tribes (NCST) to consider an amendment of the law.
Oram's letter stated: “The RGI has replied that the issue has already been examined by them and not considered for recommendation.”
On the Majhi community, it said “no proposal is received by this Ministry from the Government of Sikkim.”
“We will prepare the ethnographic report and submit it again,” said Golay.