Bollywood film “3idiots” was based on the realistic character of a man named Sonam Wangchuck from Ladakh,India. That Sonam Wangchuck has been in the news again recently. He is on a hunger strike to protect Ladakh. In the midst of -15 degrees Celsius of winter, he sits on the hunger strike with a blanket in the pit under the open sky.
Thousands of Ladakh residents are on a hunger strike along with Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a hunger strike to save Ladakh. In the midst of this hunger strike, his question – people want to know today, is Ladakh made a Union Territory because our hills have been sold to various industrial organisations, mining companies?
Almost every day, many people in Ladakh spend their nights with Sonam Wangchuck under the open sky amid the -15 degrees Celsius winter. Thousands of people have joined the protest during the day.
Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike for the last two weeks, said, “Remember what the outgoing government had promised for the people of Ladakh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections at various meetings, in the 2020 council elections, they had said Ladakh would be protected on the basis of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. It was because of this promise that they won by a huge margin of votes.
But they won the election but they did not keep the promise. On March 4, they clearly announced that Ladakh will not be included in the Sixth Schedule. He said there is no reservation or democratic structure for the local people of Ladakh anymore.
There is no assembly, no elected leader to decide on behalf of Ladakh. Ladakh has a bureaucratic regime controlled from Delhi. As a result, those who once wanted union territory in Ladakh are disillusioned today.
Sonam Wangchuk claims that the Ladakhi army has also been disillusioned due to such behaviour of the central government. He said the BJP only cares about the elections and how many seats it can win. Don’t worry about people. We have sought an assurance from the Centre that such promises will not be broken again in future.
He has also demanded multilateral legal agreements from the Centre. The people of Ladakh demand that Ladakh be included in the Sixth Schedule as well as full statehood. The Kargil Democratic Alliance has called for a half-day strike on Thursday in support of the protests by Raman Magsaysay Award winner Sonam Wangchuck.
It may be recalled that even before this protest by Sonam Wangchuk, the protests began in Ladakh demanding full statehood and inclusion of the Sixth Schedule. It was during this time that Union Home Minister Amit Shah met a six-member delegation of the KDA and Le Apex Council. During the meeting, Amit Shah conveyed that the demand for inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule was not possible. Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike has continued since then.