Gangtok, Oct. 6: Prem Singh Golay, the former rebel Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader and ex-minister, today joined the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha at a programme at Paljor Stadium that was attended by around 20,000 people.

Golay, 43, had resigned as an SDF MLA on September 4.

Today, he was welcomed by the working president of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Bharati Sharma.

Around 9.30am, Golay was escorted from Rangpo, the border town between Sikkim and Bengal, to the stadium by hundreds of vehicles. Along the road he was greeted by people with traditional scarfs.

Golay reached the stadium at 12.20pm. “I have taken mukti (freedom) from the SDF so that I can now work genuinely for the poor and needy people of Sikkim, who have become victims of nepotism and the one-man rule of chief minister Pawan Chamling for the past 20 years,” he said.

“There is corruption in every field in Sikkim, from hydel power projects to the land acquisition process, and only a few influential people close to the chief minister have taken the benefits. The real people are still deprived of proper facilities like good schools and hospitals,” Golay said in his almost hour-long speech.

The last time Golay became an MLA was in 2009 and he was nominated as the chairman of the state commerce and industries department that year. He resigned from the post on March 22, 2011.

He is one of the founding members of the SDF that was established in 1994.

Golay has been an MLA four times (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). He was a cabinet minister three thrice after being elected from the Soreng seat in West Sikkim before the SDF leadership asked him to contest from Upper Burtuk in East Sikkim in 2009.

Although Golay won that year, he started distancing himself from the party after that.

The Krantikari Morcha was floated on February 4 this year under Golay’s supervision, but he did not join the party.

Today, Golay slammed the SDF saying Pawan Chamling had “divided” the state into different communities.

“For his vested political interests, Chamling divided the Nepali community into different sub-communities in the name of associations. But once we form the government, our main aim would be to unify all the communities again,” Golay said.

There are three communities in Sikkim —Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali. Golay said that after Chamling became the chief minister in 1994 he divided the Nepali community by setting up different associations.

In the past 20 years, several bodies such as the Sikkim Chettri Bahun Association and the All Sikkim Mangar Association have been set up.

Bharti Sharma today said Golay would take charge as the president of the party. “Our party believes in a democratic process. We would soon have a general meeting and unanimously pass a resolution for making our leader as the president of the party.”

Jacob Khaling, the spokesperson of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, today announced that around 2,000 people had come to get the party’s membership.

Deo Maya Subba, 43, a resident of Geyzing in West Sikkim, said she travelled for five hours to attend today’s programme.

“I reached Gangtok on Saturday evening and stayed at my relative’s place. P.S. Golay is the real leader of Sikkim who can take Sikkim to a new path of progress. There is honesty in his words,” she said.

Sonam Bhutia, 27, of Mangan in North Sikkim, said: “I have seen a spark in P.S. Golay. He has an undying vision for a new and better Sikkim and I want to be the part of his parivartan (change) mission.”

Preeti Chettri, 22, from Singtam in East Sikkim, said: “Which leader would give up his post as an MLA for the people? Golay has always raised his voice against injustice. He is a true democrat and a leader of the masses.”