'Ladakhis Feel It Is Like A Colony In Olden Times', Says Sonam Wangchuk During Hunger Strike (Photo on X Sonam Wangchuk @Wangchuk66)
After India’s highest plateau Ladakh witnessed several massive rallies demanding the special status and statehood for the current union territory recently, Sonam Wangchuk, the innovator and education reformist, joined the protest by beginning a hunger strike on March 6. The 21-day strike of the fifty-seven-year-old Wangchuk has received significant attention. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed his support for Sonam Wangchuk.
Part of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state with a special status earlier, Ladakh became a union territory when the union government in August 2019 revoked the article 370, special status of the state leading to the reorganisation of the erstwhile state. The people are now demanding the elevation of Ladakh from the union territory to statehood.
On the seventh day of his hunger strike, Mr Wangchuk on Tuesday (March 12) said that the people of Ladakh are very frustrated, sad and disillusioned at the union government’s approach to their demands. The Wire reported that Mr Wangchuk in a telephonic conversation said to the media house that the government is behaving very thoughtlessly and insensitively towards the genuine demands of the people there.
He argued that the government”s claim of a small size of population to oppose its statehood demand cannot be agreed upon, noting that Sikkim when it became a state had only 2.50 lakh population. Talking about how the government deal with their demand, Mr Wangchuk says the Ladakhis now feel it is like a colony and commissioners from some faraway places come, with no democracy and no voting to elect their representatives to the assembly. It is like a colony in the olden times,” he added.
He then expressed his happiness over the unity he found between Buddhist-majority Leh and Muslim-majority Kargil over the region’s issues, noting the development as a positive step to resolve their differences. Although both the teams had maintained a rivalry in the past, they came together in the demand of special status and statehood for the union territory.
Mr Wangchuk has been part of several social and educational empowerment missions in the region. He was the founding director of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement and a launching member of Operation New Hope, serving the people of Ladakh in various ways.
Mr Wangchuk began his fasting on March 6 after the meetings between the leadership of Ladakh representatives and the union home ministry officials didn’t reach consensus. The Apex Body Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) said that the sub-committee level talks and their meeting with union minister Amit Shah failed to generate a positive outcome.
