'Only tea was good': Near Jantar Mantar, Sonam Wangchuk appeals for support to Ladakh’s fight for democracy

SRINAGAR: Leh Apex Body (LAB) member and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk early Saturday appealed to people across the country to support Ladakh’s fight for democracy, saying the Centre had failed to give Ladakhi leaders an assurance at the September 9 meeting that major decisions concerning land allotment and local governance would not be taken by the current administration until a democratic government was formed in the Union Territory.The founder of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Abhijeet Dipke, supported Wangchuk, stating, “Stand with Ladakh!”“Hello friends, cockroaches, how are you? I am in Delhi and right next to the place where we spent weeks with you all, starving, yes, Jantar Mantar. But don’t worry. I am not here for any protest or fast. We came here from Ladakh for a meeting with the Home Ministry for a dialogue. The meeting has been going on for the preservation of the culture, nature and land of Ladakh, and this meeting was also part of it,” Wangchuk said in a message posted on social media early Saturday.Wangchuk shared a video of famous comedian Jaspal Bhatti, saying the meeting resulted in no new steps except fixing the date for the next meeting.“Only tea was good in the meeting, otherwise no new decision was made,” he said. He said decisions already taken, including the creation of a democratic structure in Ladakh under an assembly, were repeated. But he said the government did not provide any assurance that the process of the proposed Assembly would not be undermined by major decisions taken by the local administration and the office of the lieutenant governor in Ladakh.“We had only expected a small, legitimate assurance from the government that until a democratic structure is established in Ladakh, the UT administration should not take any major decisions that would change the face of Ladakh, whether it is land allotment or local governance. No major changes should be brought in these areas and it should be done in coordination with the democratic structure.”Wangchuk said if they get an assurance from the government within a week on the issue, they will celebrate the padyatra from September 19 to September 24 as “a memorial padyatra of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Ladakh.”“Otherwise, we will make it a big demonstration on behalf of the people of the entire country that justice should be done to Ladakh,” he said, adding that, as in every other state in the country, major decisions should be left to the people.On September 9, the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance, the two organisations negotiating with the Union government for administrative autonomy for Ladakh, held talks with the MHA’s subcommittee in Delhi.After the talks, chief secretary of Ladakh Ashish Kundra said the Centre had agreed to have a legislative body under Article 371 in the region, but it would require a constitutional amendment with a two-thirds majority in Parliament.“There was a discussion on whether there would be direct or indirect elections of the UT legislative body through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils. Representatives of LAB and KDA said elections should be direct and a consensus was reached on this issue,” Kundra said at a press conference in Leh. “The question that remains to be answered concerns the relationship between the LAHDCs and the UT-level body. What powers will be vested in LAHDCs and what will be the jurisdiction of the UT-level body?”The chief secretary said the Centre had handed the Ladakh groups a list of eight to 10 questions to which they did not have immediate answers. “They were requested to think about those, consult the public and tell us what they think, so that we can move towards a draft by taking these issues forward at the next meeting in October,” he said.The chief secretary said the Centre did not want to impose any administrative model that was not acceptable to the people. “We want to move forward only after discussion with everyone. When in good faith and in the interest of everyone, everything is moving forward, it is the responsibility of the leadership here to create an environment of positivity among people, to give them hope that things are moving forward.”In a joint statement after the meeting, the LAB and KDA said the meeting furthered the “in-principle understanding” reached during talks on May 22 and July 3 on Ladakh’s demands, including constitutional safeguards through special provisions under Article 371. They said the MHA stopped short of guaranteeing powers across the board under Lists II and III of the Seventh Schedule, including law and order.The groups, however, expressed concern about “developments taking place with respect to formation of new districts, creation of hill councils of each of the new districts, and other” major irreversible changes being made before an elected body at the Union Territory level.LAB and KDA said they unanimously opposed what they called “irreversible changes” being made to the administrative and political setup of Ladakh before the UT-level body was formed.Ladakhi representatives have been in talks with the MHA since 2023 for safeguards covering land, jobs, culture and the environment. The MHA set up the committee on January 2, 2023, but the process stalled after four people were killed and more than 80 injured in alleged police firing on protesters demanding statehood in Leh in September last year.Wangchuk was accused of inciting the protesters. He was arrested, charged under the NSA and kept in Jodhpur jail. The Centre revoked his NSA detention in March this year. After his release, Wangchuk participated in the May 22 talks with the Centre. He was also one of the LAB representatives at the September 9 talks.