Ex-bureaucrat makes smooth transition to Namcheybung’s public representative after defeating Chamling
GANGTOK, : Having vanquished
political stalwart Pawan Chamling in his political debut, newly elected SKM
legislator Raju Basnet is gearing up to “get things done” in Namcheybung
constituency like he used to do while working as a government officer for 33
years.
“When I
was working as a government secretary, my working attitude was different…all my
staff know that there is no (government) file left pending in my table. My
table used to stay clean. It did not take much time for me to understand the
particular file and quickly clear it. You need to have that kind of working
attitude. Here as the Namcheybung MLA, my attitude is also the same…get things
done,” said Basnet.
Basnet was
speaking with SIKKIM EXPRESS on Wednesday at Aho where people are constantly
visiting and congratulating him for the Namcheybung triumph against the former
five-term Chief Minister.
The
55-year-old had taken voluntary retirement from government service as a Sports
secretary on March 7. He was fielded by the SKM as the party’s candidate for
Namcheybung constituency in the recently concluded Sikkim Assembly Elections
2024.
The
transition from a government servant to an elected public representative now
places Basnet in the policy making & monitoring team, leaving it to the
bureaucrats to implement them. He acknowledges this change as advantageous for him
as a civil servant-turned-politician.
“As a
secretary or officer in any post, you are implementing the will of the
government. It is your responsibility to fulfil the government’s directives.
Now having come to this side (elected representative), the responsibility is
more towards making the policies and to monitor its implementation. More
responsibility comes to you as to what policies are being made that will decide
the State’s direction,” he said.
“It is
easier on the other side (government worker) because you are implementing the
policy made by others. If it works out poorly then the blame does not come to
you. But here (as a government), the entire blame comes to you and if the
policy goes well, credit also comes,” added Basnet.
Namcheybung
was among the much anticipated constituencies as it featured a first-timer,
though from the ruling party, against Chamling who had never lost any Assembly
election since 1985. In the end, Basnet cruised to a comfortable victory (7195
votes) with a 2256-vote margin over the SDF president.
Since day
one of his campaign, the SKM candidate had maintained a confident profile of
taking the honour of defeating a hitherto
undefeated candidate from the SDF.
I was
facing a five-term former Chief Minister with over 40 years of political
experience and an undefeated political opponent and at that time I told our
party president that I will return victorious, said Basnet.
Basnet
shared multiple reasons for his confidence – primarily were the exemplary works
done by Chief Minister PS Golay and the SKM government in the first term.
“The Chief
Minister worked dedicatedly across Sikkim in five years of the SKM government,
there were exemplary works done which benefited people of all sections. His
programmes had reached every person and I felt that I was capable of reaching
out to the people of Namcheybung as the party’s candidate. I got love and
support of the people and SKM workers of Namcheybung. I am grateful to the SKM
cadre of Namcheybung as even though I was new to many, they embraced me and
took me along. I am grateful to the party president,” said Basnet.
Basnet
stressed that anti-incumbency had not set in in the SKM government’s first
term, paving the path for a landslide electoral victory with 31 seats for the
second term.
“In the
five years of SKM government, anti-incumbency had not set it. If you minus the
two years of Covid which gave only three years to the SKM government, there was
no question of anti-incumbency coming in and that is why the electoral results
were not surprising”, he said.
He
maintained that the Sikkimese electorate had already rejected the caste-based
politics of the SDF since the past two elections.
Basnet, as
the area MLA, wants to focus on ensuring that basic amenities like road, power
and water supply reaches every settlement in Namcheybung, as outlined by the
SKM with its ‘BiPaSa’ (Bijuli, Pani, Sadak) electoral promise.
“During my
campaigning, I found that there are major issues of roads, power and water
supply in Namcheybung. There was not much development in Namcheybung despite
this constituency giving victories to the SDF in every election in the past.
Firstly, we will focus on these basic needs which are the main demands of the
people here.”
Told that
people have more expectations from him, Basnet said: “These (road, water and
power supply) are basic requirements of the people. We must provide these basic
needs and then move forward to work in sectors like higher education. We want
to have at least one national-level institute in Namcheybung. Many things can
be done here like setting up micro-industries that can increase the area’s GDP.”
