'These include economic prosperity, a promising future for youth, empowerment for women, a thriving society, robust healthcare, quality education, elevated living standards, agricultural prosperity, and robust social security coupled with effective governance.'
"It will be Sunaulo Sikkim (golden Sikkim) and Samriddha Sikkim (prosperous Sikkim)," bellowed Prem Singh Tamang 'Golay' on the phone from Gangtok's Paljor stadium amid deafening ambient noise.
Speaking to Business Standard just before going into a meeting with party workers after the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha secured a landslide victory in the assembly polls winning 31 of 32 seats, he said: "I am now getting ready to implement my nine guarantees, which Sikkim knows as 'Golay ko Nau Guarantee'."
"I am very happy," he added.
Tamang, 56, a former government school teacher, will assume office for a second time as chief minister, later in June following an election that saw a nearly 80 per cent turnout.
The Opposition Sikkim Democratic Front, led by former chief minister and Golay's mentor Pawan Chamling, was wiped out.
Chamling himself lost both seats (Namcheybung by 2,256 votes and Poklok Kamrang by 3,063 votes) from which he contested.
His deputy and footballer Bhaichung Bhutia also suffered a defeat by a margin of over 4,000 votes in the Barfung constituency.
Bhutia hasn't won election anywhere in India, including twice from West Bengal as a Trinamool candidate -- in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Darjeeling and the 2016 assembly elections from Siliguri.
The Bharatiya Janata Party could not open its account in Sikkim though it put up 31 candidates. Nor could the Congress which fielded 12.
"This result is not a surprise," says Mahendra Lama, who prepared Sikkim's first Human Development Report in 2003 and is founding vice-chancellor of Sikkim University.
"Tamang's first two years as CM went in handling of the Covid pandemic. Last year's cloudburst-flood was a natural disaster this tiny state has never seen. He coped with that too.
"He had inherited a hugely indebted economy of the state and the previous chief minister (Chamling) had started taking things very easy... He is accessible and reachable."
Lama said the Opposition SDF had no major issue: "Its rallying cry was 'Sikkim Bachao'. But it lacked credibility.
"After Chamling's five terms as chief minister, people asked themselves: 'If Sikkim had to saved, who was responsible for its current travails?"
According to the data provided by the state Election Commission, more than 56 per cent voters in Sikkim's 750,000 population for the 2024 polls were under 40, without counting those who turned 18 just before the election.
This makes the state among those with the youngest voter profiles. This poses both opportunity and threat.
"His last action that turned out to be positive for Golay was that he gave fresh government employment to about 20,000 people.
"Chamling had announced a scheme of 'Ek Parivar Ek Naukri'. He had distributed appointment letters in a stadium. But those jobs were never confirmed. This chief minister confirmed those appointments," Lama underscored.
Nirmal Mangar, the editor of Sikkim's popular digital newspaper, Sikkim Chronicle, said the result endorses the state government's handling of the worst natural disaster in its history.
In October, 2023, a glacial lake flooded the Teesta river and the downstream Teesta III hydroelectric dam.
More than 20 Indian Army personnel and significant quantities of weaponry and ordnance vanished in the deluge. More than 100 bodies were recovered and over 60,000 people were affected.
"In all the six assembly constituencies affected by that disaster, Golay's candidates have won by reasonable margins," Mangar said.
According to both Lama and Mangar, the new government faces massive challenges, mainly financial.
Tamang announced, days before the model code of conduct kicked in, that if voted back to power, his government would revert to the Old Pension Scheme for state government employees.
Tamang's nine guarantees will have to be implemented.
"These include economic prosperity, a promising future for youth, empowerment for women, a thriving society, robust healthcare, quality education, elevated living standards, agricultural prosperity, and robust social security coupled with effective governance," says SKM Spokesperson Yougan Tamang.
Finding resources will mean the SKM will have to stay on the right side of the BJP, with whom it had an alliance that broke down just before the polls.
Prime Minister Narendra D Modi phoned Tamang to congratulate him. Tamang's supporters hope the money follows.
Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/ Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
