OPINION | Anxiety about alienation grips Ladakhis. Government should address it  

ladakh-protest

When I boarded a flight for Delhi at the Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport on September 24 afternoon, I had absolutely no inkling of the impending bloodshed in picturesque Leh, the administrative headquarters of Ladakh, while I was still airborne.

Soon after landing, I learnt to my horror that security forces had gunned down four protestors demanding statehood for the Union Territory after a Bharatiya Janata Party office in Leh was set on fire. Since then, the Centre and the BJP have pinned all the blame for the violence and mayhem on one individual – Sonam Wangchuk. And within 48 hours, Wangchuk was arrested under the National Security Act – which deprives detainees of bail for months and years – and parcelled off to Jodhpur, outside Ladakh; whose cause he has been espousing before Raisina Hill for as long as anyone can remember.

True, I wasn’t on a journalistic mission in Ladakh; I was simply taking a break in cooler climes far away from my hot and humid hometown, Kolkata. But as journalists don’t shut their eyes and ears even when they are off duty, let me share what I saw and heard during the run up to that black Wednesday as these snapshots are instructive and illuminate the ground realities in the sensitive region bordering China and Pakistan.

Wangchuk has mass appeal

First and foremost, Ladakhis worship the ground the 58-year-old Wangchuk walks on. This is the impression I gathered from September 16, when I reached Leh by road from Srinagar, till my departure after criss-crossing Ladakh. The Gandhian tag fits him to a T. He is the tallest leader around; he commands greater respect and loyalty than Ladakh’s lone Lok Sabha MP and formidable Shia clerics and Buddhist lamas. In short, he is an extraordinarily charismatic mass leader all Ladhakis swear by and rally behind. The allegiance he enjoys is truly mind-boggling.

To brand a people’s hero like Wangchuk as a criminal and an anti-national with Pakistani links – as the Ministry of Home Affairs, Lt. Governor Kavinder Gupta and Director General of Police S. D. Singh Jamwal are openly doing post September 24 – is self-defeating.

All these wild and unsubstantiated charges to frame him as India’s Enemy No 1 for having the temerity to demand Ladakh’s dues will ultimately crumble in any court of law. If Wangchuk had indeed committed the crimes he is being suddenly accused of, he would have been picked up long ago. Now, as the Centre has characteristically unleashed the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and National Investigation Agency can’t be far behind!

Slow pace of talks didn’t help

Secondly, whoever I spoke to in Ladakh; whether it was at the Sangam where the Indus and Zanskar rivers meet, the Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake or the heart-warming Leh Market which mirrors the region’s culture, traditions and lifestyle; bristled at the MHA’s arrogance and haughtiness. Wangchuk had gone on a hunger strike in Leh from September 10 to compel the MHA to restart the stalled talks with the Ladakhi leadership for two key demands: statehood and 6th Schedule status to protect land and jobs of locals.

The last round of negotiations had taken place months ago on May 27. After that, the Centre imperiously dilly-dallied. Ladakhis were livid because the MHA even shrugged off Wangchuk’s hunger strike. They told me that Delhi was playing with their hero’s life. Their anger grew palpably as the Centre played a waiting game to corner the Ladhakis.

Finally, on September 21 – three days before that bloody Wednesday – the Centre announced that talks would be held on October 6. The deadlock was broken but Ladakhis felt cheated and humiliated because October 6 was a full fortnight away. The clearly inflammatory message Delhi sent was that it didn’t give a damn.

A sense of betrayal which must be neutralised

In hindsight, I must say that I felt an unmistakable sense of betrayal in Ladakh which must be stemmed at all costs because of its geographical location. The Buddhists were truly ecstatic when Ladakh became a union territory in 2019. But their joy was short-lived because just like the Kargil-centred Shias they realised that the Centre had no intention of bettering their lot but to throw open the region to exploitative outsiders who were kept at bay by Articles 370 and 35A. Hence the demand for statehood and protection of the 6th Schedule which Wangchuk spearheaded.

Remarkably, in 2019 the Ladakh Lok Sabha was won by the BJP. But with Buddhists and Shia Muslims forging unity thwarting the right-wing divisive agenda, the BJP came third in 2024, marking the end of Buddhists’ tryst with BJP-RSS.

A blow up that was unforeseen

Did I foresee Buddhists’ anger and resentment exploding as it did on that fateful day? No, I didn’t, to be honest. Something obviously snapped on September 24 – probably the Centre’s casual approach despite the deteriorating health of some of Wangchuk’s associates on hunger strike – instigated the jobless, educated youth assembled at the venue of Wangchuk’s fast-unto-death to head for the BJP office.

There are reports of protestors carefully removing the Indian tricolour and portraits of Ambedkar before setting the BJP office on fire. BJP flags and portraits of BJP leaders were obviously gutted. But did the vandalism merit security forces allegedly riddling the rioters’ heads and torso with bullets without any warning? Only a judicial commission of enquiry can establish whether the firing on unarmed youths was necessary under the circumstances, or avoidable. It’s always a sad day for any democratic polity when the men in uniform pull the trigger to kill citizens.