Gangtok: Congress on Wednesday flayed the Pawan
Kumar Chamling government for its failure to handle the law
and order situation arising out of the clashes between
students of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT).
Chamling's claim that Sikkim is an abode of peace and
tranquility has been 'dented irreparably' due to the violence
in SMIT campus yesterday in which seven students were injured,
Sikkim PCC General Secretary K N Lepcha said in a statement.
The incident had communal and regional overtones akin to
that of Maharashtra, he alleged adding that he was not at all
surprised at the regional politics that was played out in the
institute.
The clash reflected Chamling government's outlook of
breeding regional sentiments among the people for the sake of
political power, he said and urged the people not to be swayed
by its communal and divisive policies.
It must not be forgotten that a large number of people,
including students from Sikkim, go outside the state for
professional and academic purposes and they may suffer similar
fate if the people in other states retaliated, he said.
Lepcha asked the state government to act against those
students involved in the SMIT violence to send out a strong
message outside that Sikkim indeed was an abode of peace.
Seven students were injured in the clash between two
groups of student leading to the institute being closed down
for 10 days from today and suspend all academic activities
till normalcy returned.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, September 09, 2009, 20:46