Swathed in several layers of clothing, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk continues his fast-unto-death-protest under the expansive open skies of Leh, where night temperatures occasionally plummet to a bone-chilling minus 12 degrees.
Joined by a knot of local residents, Wangchuk is pressing for statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in the Constitution’s sixth schedule to protect the fragile ecosystem of newly carved out Union Territory.
As his fast-unto-death entered its 17th day, the visibly debilitated activist in a strained voice, his breath rasping, responded to a few questions posed by businessline .
How has the Union Territory status without legislature impacted Ladakh?
We have regressed into a State resembling that of a colony. We are directly being ruled by a bureaucracy controlled by New Delhi. It often fails to understand the complexities and intricacies, which are unique to this region.
The Union Territory status had been a long-standing demand of the people of Ladakh then why is there a significant level of dissatisfaction among them?
Yes, the Union territory status was the long-pending demand of the people of Ladakh, but it is not the kind of UT that we had aspired for. If you look at the records, the demand was always for a UT with a Legislative Assembly — the Pondicherry type and not the Lakshadweep type, where the people could elect their own representatives and form a government that decides how to manage a region.
Why do you that you were better off with erstwhile State of J&K?
In J&K, there were safeguards to the land and environment and other vital aspects concerning people. Additionally, we used to have four representatives in the Lower House and two in the Upper House of the J&K Assembly along with at least one cabinet minister. However, in the absence of a legislature, it is not the case now. We had always expected that when the region would be granted a UT status, similar safeguards would be ensured through the application of the sixth schedule of the constitution.
Do you say that the government failed to live up to the expectations of the people of Ladakh?
Not only were these our expectations, but such safeguards were also promised by the current dispensation itself in various meetings of the Tribal Ministry and the National Commission for Schedule Tribes. There are records of these commitments in meetings’ minutes. Even in two prestigious elections — Lok Sabha elections (2019) and Ladakh Hill Development Council elections (2020) — it was one of the crucial parts of their ( BJP candidates’ ) agenda. We were very much assured that the government would provide us with these safeguards and we felt that the government was equally interested and generous, but then they backtracked.
Does Ladakh meet criteria for inclusion under the sixth Schedule of the Constitution?
The schedule is primarily intended for the areas with a tribal population of more than 50 per cent and in Ladakh’s case it is more than 90 per cent.
The writer is a Srinagar-based journalist