Bhaichung Bhutia, 41, is a former Indian football captain who had a brief stint with politics when he fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket from Darjeeling in West Bengal, but lost. He also lost in the 2016 Bengal Assembly elections. Bhutia will now launch his own political party “Hamro Sikkim” in the hill state of Sikkim. He spoke to The Sunday Guardian. Excerpts:
Q: What motivated you and made you decide on a new political party?
A: One party has been ruling Sikkim for the last 25 years. The anti- incumbency factor, the huge corruption happening in the state, and the oppression of this autocratic government, is what made me launch this party. I have been born and brought up in Sikkim. When I saw that the younger generation was not able to speak up and their voices were being clamped down upon by the present state government, I thought that Sikkim and its younger generation needed a change.
Q: How will your party be different from the rest in Sikkim?
A: We want to give clean and corruption free politics. We do not want to divide the people here in terms of community. We do not play petty politics. We want to make sure that Sikkim as a small state becomes a corruption free state. Sikkim has the second highest number of unemployed persons in the country. The government here has given 20-30 hydel power projects, agricultural lands to 20-30 odd pharmaceutical companies, despite knowing we have a huge farming potential. The government in Sikkim is not being able to do a proper study on agriculture, in terms of development and it is just going blindly to private companies and most of these power projects are given to private players.
Q: You were a part of the TMC in Bengal till recently, and had even contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on its ticket from Darjeeling, but you had lost. What made you quit TMC and how has been your relationship with the TMC?
A: The relationship with the TMC has been good. Obviously, when I was playing I was in Bengal, but after I quit playing, I shifted to Sikkim. Doing politics in Bengal was a big challenge, because politics is all about giving time and commitment, which I was not being able to give. So it becomes very unfair to do politics in a place where you cannot give time and commitment. It is also a fact that when you are fighting election in Bengal, I was always looked at as an outsider. And I don’t blame them; see if I have to vote today in Sikkim, I would choose anybody who is from my state. That factor was there. But the relationship with the party has always been good.
Q: You have been vocal about the Gorkhaland issue in Bengal. How do you look at the issue of demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland by the people of Darjeeling?
A: It is my personal opinion and I have always maintained that Gorkhaland should happen. They have been fighting for this for years now. Maybe, I think a Union Territory is also what they should consider for Gorkhaland, if not a statehood. This is my stand. I have maintained this stand even when I was in the TMC.
Q: What is your take on how the Bengal government has handled the entire Gorkhaland issue?
A: I think the Bengal government could have handled the situation in a much better way. I did condemn when people died in the state. I am sure they (the Bengal government) could have handled it much better. In any agitation, we cannot lose life from both the sides. Any life lost is not appreciated from the government’s side as well as the other side.
Q: Will you contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections?
A: Yes, we will contest from Sikkim.