Hills give mixed political reactions to Sikkim Police’s arrests of GSS members

DARJEELING,: The arrest of Gorkha Seva Sena (GSS) memers Bikramadi Rai and Subash Mani Singh from the hills here by the Sikkim Police drew mixed reactions from the political leaders here.

The duo was arrested on Saturday in connection to an FIR against them along with Sikkim-resident Noel Sharma for alleged violations including misrepresentation, unauthorized use of official emblems, and actions deemed potentially harmful to public order and the integrity of the State. The FIR had been filed on June 6 at the Gangtok Sadar Police Station in Gangtok by the Sikkim Home Department.

Reacting to the arrests, the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) president Ajoy Edwards said, “Though the IGJF may not endorse nor accept the idea of merging Darjeeling with Sikkim as raised by the two, their arrest like common criminals is deeply disturbing and leaves a bitter taste in our mouths.”

“When we speak of Gorkhaland, Bengal Police throws us behind bars. Now, when two individuals voice a controversial yet peaceful idea as an alternative to Bengal’s oppression, Sikkim responds with arrests. Is this the fate of the Gorkha people of the Darjeeling Hills to be silenced from all directions?” questioned Edwards in his Facebook post.

The IGJF leader urged the Sikkim Government if there is any case to be made it be handled through diplomacy and the judiciary, not through handcuffs while at the same time appealing to Bikram and Subash and all other proponents of the merger issue, not to present “ourselves as a desperate people begging for refuge.”

Edwards maintained that Sikkim had clearly and consistently rejected the idea of a merger as seen across social media and in public discourse while maintaining that the people here wanted Gorkhaland.

On the other hand, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) leader Keshav Raj Pokhrel said, “Freedom of expression is the beauty of a republic. In the Darjeeling hills, a defamation case has been filed for the misuse of freedom of expression, but no one has been imprisoned for it. Leaders and people are accused of different things which are perhaps a symbol of the flourishing of democracy in Darjeeling.”

“The context of arresting and taking action against the leaders of the GSS may be legal, but it is against democracy. The idea may not be acceptable, but the constitution gives them the freedom to express their opinions,” he added.

The BGPM leader also stated that he shared a different opinion from the GSS and disagreed with them on their issues, principles, and activities. He said that being Gorkhas they were brothers due to which he opposed the action taken against them.

Meanwhile, Darjeeling MLA and GNLF leader Neeraj Zimba was seeing giving justifications to the arrests.

Zimba said, “In a country where popular sentiment often overshadows legal nuance, the line between protest and provocation is easily blurred. The recent arrest of the Bikram and Subash by the Sikkim Police has become one such case. And as with all matters where sentiment meets sovereignty, it has swiftly transcended its legal scope to become a theatre of hurt, identity, and misunderstood intentions.”

Zimba also in a Facebook post maintained that the sections in which the arrests had been made are not casual clauses and was not invoked lightly. He alleges that the public speeches, video interviews, social media posts made by them repeating the idea of a merger between Darjeeling and Sikkim was “articulated not as an academic provocation, but as a politically actionable proposition” with the “tone not reflective but declarative” and “the words chosen not hypothetical, but direct.”

“It is here that the law draws a line. That line is not drawn to restrict dissent, but to restrain disorder. Had this been a politically motivated arrest, the government would have moved long ago against leaders of the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress, who have raised similar propositions in the past but they were never touched, because their engagement was rooted in discussion not mobilisation, not agitation,” reasoned Zimba adding that the State had little choice but to intervene not for vengeance, but for equilibrium and that what the Home department of Sikkim had one was not an ideological overreach but a legal obligation. He added that one should not make the mistake of casting every legal response as political aggression.

“The emotional and cultural bonds between Darjeeling and Sikkim are undeniable but emotions do not rewrite constitutions and sentiment is not statute. Brotherhood does not confer the right to propose political union without consent,” he said while also maintaining that the people of Sikkim had firmly and publicly rejected the merger idea.