Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) vice-president Bhaichung Bhutia has expressed satisfaction at the way his new party has made progress in the last one-and-a-half months.

“We have progressed a lot in the first one-and-a-half months. Our party activities are going on at the grassroots level in south and west districts. We have made an impact on these two districts. We are going to the villages and meeting people during the door-to-door campaign,” he said in Gangtok.

Bhutia was talking to the media at Rangpo where HSP workers and  functionaries had gathered to welcome him on his return to Gangtok after attending his commitments as a panel expert in Mumbai for the FIFA World Cup 2018.

The former Indian football captain, along with former minister Ran Bahadur Subba, had floated the HSP at Daramdin in West Sikkim earlier this year.

Speaking on the organisational expansion of the HSP, Mr Bhutia said the HSP would now focus on holding party activities in the east and north districts.

Asked about the party’s programmes and agenda, the HSP vice-president said the party would not ‘impose’ agendas or programmes on the people.

“We will meet the people and take feedback from them on what type of programmes and initiatives they want. We will take their advice and include their inputs in our party’s election manifesto. We will work on important sectors like education, health and social welfare,” he said.

Youth empowerment initiatives and promotion of sports are among the top priorities of the Hamro Sikkim Party, according to him.

“Our party is youth-friendly and we will focus on the empowerment of the youth of Sikkim. We want to develop leadership qualities among them,” he said.

“Hamro Sikkim Party will lay focus on sports development in Sikkim and make sports compulsory in all schools. Engaging in sports is important for our children as it teaches them to be competitive and healthy and help them develop a strong mentality. They will learn how to learn from defeat and how to stay humble in victories. Sports will take our children away from negative habits,” he added.

According to him, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) had ignored development of sports, music and other engaging pursuits of the Sikkimese youth. “For the first time in 25 years of the SDF government, the SDF organised a football tournament this year. It was organised just because election is nearing,” he said.