"I was sent to jail...conspiracies were hatched": Sikkim CM recounts political struggles

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, speaking at the first Aama Samman Diwas on August 10 at the Rangpo Playground, told a large gathering that no conspiracy, however powerful, could suppress the will of the people. 

“Many conspiracies were hatched against me. Papers were fabricated, documents in my favour were hidden, and on the basis of false evidence, I was sent to jail on August 17, 2017,” he said. “They succeeded in sending me to prison, but they could not lock away the love and trust of the people of Sikkim.”

Speaking before an audience of residents, community leaders, and dignitaries, Tamang revisited the events that shaped his political career — particularly the years leading up to his imprisonment in 2017. He recalled how, in 2009, all 21 senior party members were denied tickets for elections, but he alone was chosen to contest. He said this was proof that the allegations from an earlier 1997 case were baseless.

The chief minister said his imprisonment was not just a legal matter but a test of faith for the people and the institutions of Sikkim. “From the deities to the monasteries, temples, and churches, everyone stood with me,” he said. He insisted that in Sikkim’s history, the guilty have never gone unpunished, and the innocent have always been vindicated.

Without naming names, Tamang said that the person who had “conspired” against him and secured his conviction had been rejected by the people and “permanently removed” from the Sikkim Legislative Assembly. “I didn’t need to take action. The people themselves took that action in the elections of 2019 and 2024,” he said.

Tamang described his political comeback as a turning point for the state. “The elections proved my innocence and marked the beginning of the downfall of that tyrannical government,” he asserted, adding that August 10, 2018, would always be remembered as the day the decline began.

 “Revolutionaries can be locked in prison, but the revolutionary spirit can never be imprisoned.”, he said. 

The Aama Samman Diwas, being observed for the first time this year, was dedicated to honouring the strength and contributions of mothers in Sikkim.