The Government of India has done well by releasing prominent climate activist from Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk after nearly six months of custody. Wangchuk was released on March 14. He had been arrested under the National Security Act. He was blamed for violence that engulfed the Ladakh area in September last year.
Wangchuk had earlier observed a hunger strike and taken out a “peace march” demanding statehood for Ladakh region, which is currently a Union Territory, besides seeking to get Ladakh included in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution protecting tribal rights, land rights and environmental safeguards in the region.
The unconditional release of Wangchuk will send the right message in the sensitive region that borders China and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He spent about 170 days in prison. Meanwhile, the Government of India has been holding negotiations with the representatives of the region regarding the demands for statehood along with inclusion in the Sixth Schedule.
During the September protests, Ladakh witnessed unprecedented violence that saw the BJP office being set on fire. Only some years ago Ladakh had elected the BJP MP to the Parliament in the 2019 General Elections.
Ladakh was one of the classic examples of how things can go wrong despite all good intentions. People of Ladakh had been demanding to get separated from Jammu and Kashmir for a long time. It was their long-pending demand to be granted Union Territory status. And within a few years of getting UT status, there was an uprising for statehood. The protests were compared to the Gen Z protests in Nepal and Bangladesh.
It is ironic that people of Ladakh, who are staunch nationalists, would rise against the BJP government, which is in power purely on the nationalistic plank. There was some communication gap somewhere. The BJP could not retain the Ladakh Parliamentary constituency in 2024, despite having granted the union territory status to the region.
The Union Territory of Ladakh consists of the districts of Leh and Kargil. The two districts differ both in demography and language. While the predominant population in Ladakh belongs to the Buddhist religion and speaks Ladakhi, in Kargil the majority population is that of Muslims who mostly speak the Balti language quite different from Ladakhi.
Also read: Sonam Wangchuk released from jail as Centre revokes NSA
The fault lines are also seen in their political inclinations. People of Ladakh and Kargil regions are not on the same political page as they vote for separate and opposing political parties. While the people of Kargil have mostly supported the National Conference, the people of Ladakh have supported mostly the Congress and also the BJP.
People of Kargil have always shown political unity based on their religious affiliation. They vote along religious lines irrespective of the party that the candidate belongs to. This happened in 2024 General Elections also, when both the Congress and the BJP candidates were Buddhists from Ladakh region and people of Kargil voted for an independent Muslim candidate from Kargil, who won. This was despite the Ladakh region and the Buddhists having more votes than the Kargil region.
The current problem started from that day. With practically no political representation after getting the UT status, people of Ladakh still felt that their voice was being heard in the Parliament through their MP. But since the MP who was elected in 2024, was solely elected with the votes of the people from Kargil, Ladakh was never in his consideration, leave aside being a priority. This left the people of Ladakh politically voiceless.
Wangchuk tried to fill the political vacuum. Besides, the BJP appointed Lieutenant Governor Kavinder Gupta, who did not have much political or administrative experience. A man of high integrity, Gupta had earlier served as mayor of Jammu and also deputy chief minister for some time. It was during his tenure as Lieutenant Governor that the Ladakh uprising took a serious and violent turn and people rose against the same political dispensation that they had admired for a long time and which had granted them their long-pending demand for the UT status.
The Government of India must seriously consider setting up a legislative assembly in the UT of Ladakh on the pattern of Delhi, where they can have some political power with their own Chief Minister and other ministers. That will also help in maintaining the proportionate balance of power between the Ladakh and Kargil regions.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council is under bureaucratic control with the Deputy Commissioner being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), thus defeating the very purpose that the people of Ladakh had fought for. LAHDC is no more than a municipal corporation and that is not what people of Ladakh had fought for.
There is a common refrain in Ladakh with people saying that before being the UT they looked towards Srinagar and after becoming the UT they have to look towards Delhi and Delhi literally proved to be too far than Srinagar, which they had never thought of or wished for.
Ladakh and Ladakhis need to be taken seriously and they must be.
Follow us
