01 May, 2004; 1 the predictions begin NOW! SDF claims all, Cong 24 and both claim the next govt as theirs DETAILS ON pg 5 SBICAR Bharat Sanchar LOAN Saturday, 01 May, 2004 Vol. 3 No. 33 Gangtok Rs. 3 Nigam Ltd. the most convenient option NOTICE Sanction & Disbursement in 1 day It is notified that Telephone Lowest interest rate at 9% Adalat will be held on 28/05/ No prepayment charges 04 at 11 A.M. in the cham- No processing charge ber of General Manager, Loan up to 90% Telecom, Gtk. The Sub- Free accidental death scribers are requested to insurance of the kindly file their complaints borrower regarding (1) excess billing Repayment up to 84 (2) Service (3) Non-provi- months sion of New Telephone due to various reasons etc. by contact PT Bhutia 98320 35786 20/05/04 addressed to the or Chettri 94340 12824 AO (TR) O/o the GMT/GTK Jorethang plays host to Congress wRath PURAN TAMANG JORETHANG, 30 April: The PARTY THROWS ALL CAUTION TO THE Congress [I] today held a large pub- lic meeting at Jorethang for south and west districts. Reportedly, more WIND, LIGHTS UP CM’S EFFIGY than 4,000 people attended the Bahadur Bhandari, in his address, gesting that such movements could ried the candidates names, blank. in protest against the rejections, mass meeting which began at claimed that the next government also make it to Sikkim. The party is now arguing that the threw all caution to the wind when around 11 AM. in Sikkim would definitely be a He warned that Maobadi original Forms were replaced be- it even lit up an effigy of the SDF The meet which had in attend- Congress government and went on andolans could arise within the cause the signatures don’t tally. The president Mr. Chamling in total dis- ance the Congress candidates along to allege that even the 1999 elec- state if democracy was subverted. RO, in the meantime has reiterated regard of the model code of con- with Lok Sabha MP from Assam tions had not been fair. Democracy for Mr. Bhandari was that the signatures do match and duct which disallows such displays and lottery baron MK Subba, saw “The elections in 1999 were not compromised in the rejections in that the entire episode has been of aggression. Also pulled into the the party pull out all stops in an at- fair. The SDF won those polls by South Sikkim in which, he alleged, videographed and the procedure string of allegations of collusion tempt to tide over the setbacks suf- cheating,” he alleged. both the Chief Minister, Pawan attended by central election observ- today was the name of ADC fered with the loss of four seats He also tried to create a sense Chamling, and the Returning Of- ers leaving no scope for foul play. [South]. [three in South to rejection of nomi- of insecurity among the people of ficer were involved. The Congress, of course is not The effigy was burnt while nation papers and one in north the state by pointing at the Maoist The rejections, it might be re- willing to listen and speaker after Youa Raj Rai, the rejected candi- when the candidate failed to file his problem to Sikkim’s west, the called, came about when the party speaker repeated the same allega- date from Wok, was addressing the nominations]. Gorkhaland to the south and the is- high-command submitted the tions and the party which has al- gathering. It is yet unclear whether SPCC [I] president, Nar sue of Tibet to the North and sug- Form-B’s which should have car- ready started putting up black flags turn to pg 5 22 Congress workers arrested with weapons, sent to judicial custody HONGHONG KONGKONG ing this exercise the police uncov- fered a major setback in the loss of BAZAAR a NOW REPORT ered 5 khukuris, 2 bamphoks, steel four seats even before the elections, NAMCHI, 30 April: Twenty-two rods, 4 iron rods, several sticks and could resort to violence in a bid to Any Item Rs. 90 to Rs. 150 Congress [I] supporters were ar- Congress [I] publicity material gain lost ground in the short time that FIRST rested from Namthang under along with bottles of beer and pepsi is left before the State goes to polls. Gift Items, Crockery & Other TIME IN Rateypani constituency by SP in the two vehicles. Incidentally, an SDF press re- SIKKIM South, MS Tuli, yesterday for pos- Some of the youth were also lease has alleged that even the Cong Attractive Goods! session of arms. found to have khukuris on their per- [I] candidate from Rateypani, JB The arrests were made while sons. The arrests were made at around Darnal, was present in the group HOTEL BAYUL, MG MARG, GANGTOK the SP [South] along with a con- 8 PM. It has been learnt that nine of stopped by the cops yesterday and tingent of Sikkim Police, Sikkim those arrested belong to Rateypani. has rued the fact that Congress Armed Police and the CRPF, was The vehicles have been seized and leaders, instead of discouraging on a patrol-cum-flag march be- all arrested sent to judicial custody, violence by its youth were openly tween Namthang and Mamring. inform sources in the district police. supporting it. For Exclusive When two jeeploads of obvious Senior officials monitoring the Incidentally, Section 144 of the party youth approached, the jeeps poll process have voiced fears that CrPc has been implemented in the Pearls & Fancy Jewellery were stopped for checking and dur- the Congress, which has already suf- South district from today, 30 April. from Hyderabad, DETAILED The [beauty] Queen of REPORT ON JYOTI visit BRAHMIN’S EXHIBITION- HOME-COMING CUM-SALE AT Hotel Golden Pagoda the Hills comes visiting ON pg 3 STYLE MG Marg, Gangtok CMYK 2; NOW!; 01 May, 2004 ED-SPACE May Day - A Product of NOW! The American Experiment FIRST WITH THE NEWS Locked & Loaded With Anarchism ronic as it may sound, May Day, tribution of all goods and services. tures (including government), em- Ironic as it may sound, violence remains the weapon of the weak. It is which has today come to Workers had seen first-hand that phasized worker controlled indus- invariably the person at the losing side of an argument who lets the fists idenitified with communist or Capitalism benefited only their try, and valued direct action over fly first. As the stakes start rising, so does the ferocity of the violence. I socialist regimes, has its origins in bosses, trading workers’ lives for the bureaucratic political process. Sikkim is no stranger to poll-related violence, yet the discovery of an the capitalist world of America, It profit. Thousands of men, women It is inaccurate to say that labor explosive device in west Sikkim, the arrest of 22 party workers with weapons in South Sikkim yesterday and the increasingly belligerent is indeed as American as baseball and children were dying needlessly unions were “taken over” by anar- tone of campaigning are pointers that the last ten days of campaigning and apple pie, and stemmed from every year in the workplace, with chists and socialists, but rather an- are going to be anything but peaceful. The extra deployment of para- the pre-Christian holiday of life expectancy as low as their early archists and socialist made up the military forces notwithstanding, the police can expect to have its hands Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and twenties in some industries, and lit- labor unions. full till the elections are over. The cops can at best provide extra cover fertility. tle hope but death of rising out of At its national US convention at identified trouble-spots and make available better protection for the their destitution. Socialism offered in Chicago, held in 1884, the Fed- candidates. There is no way that it can guarantee absolute peace. What In the late nineteenth century, another option. eration of Organized Trades and is expected from it though is a strong and effective crackdown in the the working class was in constant A variety of socialist organiza- Labor Unions (which later became wake of any disruptions. Sikkim can, however, expect a two-day re- struggle to gain the 8-hour work tions sprung up throughout the later the American Federation of Labor), prieve while the Chief Election Commissioner is in the capital. No party day. Working conditions were se- half of the 19th century, ranging proclaimed that “eight hours shall will want to be embarrassed by an “incident” while the top honcho of the vere and it was quite common to from political parties to choir constitute a legal day’s labor from electioneering process is in town and every political party tries to con- work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe groups. In fact, many socialists and after May 1, 1886.” vince him that violence is being directed against them. The CEC, how- ever, is obviously well-versed in the need for political parties to make conditions. Death and injury were were elected into governmental of- At first, most radicals and an- such sounds in his office. He can do little to make politicians change commonplace at many work places. fice by their constituency in the US. archists regarded this demand as their ways, but he can influence the administrators and the law and As early as the 1860’s, working But again, many of these socialists too reformist, failing to strike “at order agencies to make sure that the polls go as smoothly as possible people agitated to shorten the work- were hamstrung by the political the root of the evil.” A year before in Sikkim.