Citizenship Bill against Interest of Sikkim and Article 371 F, says Bhaichung Bhutia

Gangtok, December 12, 2019:

'Hamro Sikkim Party' leader and footballing legend Bhaichung Bhutia on Thursday has slammed the controversial Citizenship Bill and alleged that it could open the doors to an "influx" of foreigners.

Terming the contentious Bill as a "long term policy for getting all the influx into Sikkim", Bhaichung said that the Bill will bring "foreigners or people from other states". Bhutia also alleged that the legislation is "completely against the interest of Sikkimese people and article 371 F."

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Opining that "future generations could be in danger" due to the adverse effects of the Citizenship Bill, Bhutia said that it cannot be left to State Assembly to decide "since we know that our political leaders Come under huge pressure from the center govt on various reasons."

"Despite our government and both members of Parliament opposing the Bill, it does not exclude Sikkim from the bill in writing, whereas the other Northeastern states are mentioned in 'black and white' in the Bill", lamented Bhutia.

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Bhutia also stated that since the two major political parties, SDF and SKM are in alliance with the BJP in North East through the NEDA alliance, it would be "interesting" to see how the alliance would be affected in the future.

"It took more then a decade for Delhi govt to give control of the administration of Sikkim into the hands of people from state others then Sikkim. Sikkim might never see another chief secretary of Sikkimese origin in future", he said.

It may be mentioned here that the Bill that was passed by the Rajya Sabha after a discussion extending many hours, has sparked widespread protests across the Northeast, and especially in Assam.

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