advertisement
Cameraperson: Athar Rather
Video Editor: Kriti Saxena
22 March, Friday, marks day 17 of climate activist and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Sonam Wangchuk's 21-day-hunger strike and fast unto death in Ladakh.
Sonam Wangchuk’s protest began on 6 March when hundreds of people gathered in sub-zero temperatures at an altitude of 3,500 metres above sea level.
Speaking to his fellow protestors on 6 March, Wangchuk said,
The main demands that the people in Ladakh have raised are:
Special status and statehood for Ladakh
Implementation of the sixth schedule of the Constitution
Protecting the ‘fragile’ ecosystem of Ladakh
Separate Parliamentary seats for Ladakh and Kargil
Separate Public Services Commission for Ladakh
The sixth schedule of the Constitution, under Article 244, gives the local tribal people administrative rights in Ladakh.
It is meant to provide for the “administration of certain tribal areas as autonomous entities.” It is already in place in the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.
In conversation with The Wire, Wangchuk said,
There are multiple development projects underway in Ladakh. According to a 2023 Scroll report, the current work in progress projects are:
Geothermal power plant in Puga valley, to be set up by ONGC
Green hydrogen unit, to be set up by NTPC
Solar power-generated electricity system for transmitting power from Ladakh to Haryana
7 other hydropower projects on river Indus
Clearing out of 157 acres of forest land to set up electricity transmission lines
With all these projects coming in, and other development projects helmed by the military such as the building of roads, the locals are protesting against the depletion of their natural resources – such as borax, gold, granite, limestone, etc, which the region is rich in.
Another Rs 9 crore has been allocated for the development of the Zanskar-Padum regions in Ladakh to give tourism a boost.
Sharing visuals of his protest on social media, Wangchuk wrote,
Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, multiple protests have erupted in the Leh-Ladakh region, helmed by local civil groups. These groups met with Home Minister Amit Shah in 2020 to discuss their demands.
At their behest, the Ministry of Home Affairs also constituted a High Powered Committee (HPC) on Ladakh back in 2023, whose main aim was to discuss the constitutional safeguards required in the region.
However, in a statement issued by the leaders, they said that the meetings so far have had no “concrete outcome.”
Writing for The Quint, earlier this month, independent journalist Aquib Javeed said, “On 4 March, the central government made it clear that they couldn’t meet the expectations of the people. However, some safeguards can be extended.”
Javeed also quoted Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group Think Tank based in New Delhi, as saying,
However, the protesters are also quick to point out that their demands have not come as a surprise to the government.
In fact, in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto for Ladakh had promised – “Declaration of Ladakh under 6th schedule of the Indian Constitution (Tribal Area).”
In 2020, during the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections, the local political bodies, as well as the people, boycotted the polls.
The implementation of the sixth schedule was in the manifesto of the BJP for these elections too.
A statement released by the political leaders said,
Wangchuk, while speaking to India Today last week, said, “It's about (the) environment. It's about democracy. And thirdly, it's also about truth now. It has become because if promises in elections are broken like this, then elections will become a joke...you win an election and form a government, but do not keep the promises. So we are going to go in 21-day cycles, notwithstanding any code of conduct or anything.”
According to the 2011 Census, the population of Ladakh is close to 2.75 lakh. Every day, for the last 15 days, hundreds of people have shown up to the protest site in solidarity.
School and university students, civil bodies, local farmers, an environmental group called ‘Friends of Ladakh and Friends of Nature’ are among the people who’ve shown solidarity with Wangchuk’s protest so far.
What next? Wangchuk has called for a “border march,” with two dates being shortlisted for it – 27 March and 7 April.
Apart from this, the climate activist has also appealed to people across cities to hold protests and meetings on 24 March.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)