In 2019, the BJP won Ladakh for helping the region separate from Jammu and Kashmir and become a UT. Five years later, party faces music and cold attitude, reports Khalid Bashir Gura
Celebrations around reading of article 370 of August 5, 2019, were short-lived. After Ladakh was separated from the erstwhile state, its initial jubilation turned to resentment and protests. The sparsely populated cold desert feels helpless and struggles for constitutional guarantees to protect its identity, rights and status.
Fighting disguised threats from anonymous “admirers,” famed climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk spearheaded the regional movement in subzero temperatures. In recent months, he has managed to attract the attention and support of a wider audience, as crowds thronged the site as he began a hunger strike.
Wangchuk communicates via social networks with a wider audience. On March 6, he began his 21-day fast, followed by a women’s hunger strike. The climate continues.
In the video, Breaking election promises is not a crime, but reminding leaders is he narrated that we are all trying to remind the Government of India, especially the Ministry of Home Affairs, of the promises they made to the fragile ecosystem of Ladakh and the indigenous people to safeguard them under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Speaking of a “strange and interesting incident”, he said an anonymous admirer had informed him through an anonymous envelope containing a handwritten letter claiming that the bank details of “Wangchuk Institutes” had been seized by the “department anti-money laundering”. » “The same thing happened in the (Arvind) Kejriwal case,” Wangchuk said, reading aloud the video letter posted on social media.
Historically, Ladakh has been a major recipient of foreign development funds under the FCRA in Jammu and Kashmir, as global non-governmental organizations have assisted the region on various fronts.
Wangchuk welcomed the investigations. Another admirer, he said, who claimed to work in one of the investigation agencies of the Union government, had warned him about accidents and risks to his life. He suggested Wangchuk “take very good care” of his safety and life. However, he wanted to die this way. “Sometimes deaths can spark revolutions,” Wangchuk said in his social media post.
In September 2020, following the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh, socio-political and religious organizations formed Leh Apex Body (LAB) from Buddhist-majority Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) from from Muslim-majority Kargil to demand rights. and the status of 2.74 lakhs (2011) people inhabiting the region.
Requirements and fears
Fearing that safety nets have fallen and Ladakh is exposed to floods of outside influence, residents fear demographic change and environmental degradation, as well as the loss of political and cultural power.
“Our democratic rights have been snatched away, especially after the downgraded reading of Article 370,” said Qamar Ali Akhoon, senior leader of the National Conference and co-chairman of the KDA. “We have no say in local administration. The powers of the LAHDC have also been diluted. These demands united the two districts traditionally divided along religious and political lines. On February 3, thousands of people marched on the roads of Leh to press these demands and Kargil observed a solidarity strike.
Interviews with MHA
“Both LAB and KDA were in talks with the MHA for statehood, a sixth schedule extension to Ladakh which would get tribal status for the region, two parliamentary seats for Leh and Kargil and job reservations,” said Mustafa Haji, lawyer and legal advisor to the summit. body. The latest update on these negotiations was the Home Secretary’s outright refusal of the Sixth Schedule and statehood. This infuriated the region, Haji said, and hunger strikes began.
Dr Mohammad Jaffer Akhone, elected as the new Chief Executive Councilor (CEC) after the NC-Congress alliance won the LAHDC polls in 2023, said the people of Kargil were still opposed to the UT’s demand, even before August 5, 2019.
“Thanks to Article 370, our lands, livelihoods and jobs have been protected. But now that it is gone, we are demanding tribal status under the Sixth Schedule like other northeastern states,” Akhone said. “Since the abolition of the special status, we no longer have a civil service commission and our young people are unemployed.”
Besides, the region required two Lok Sabha constituencies. “Two MLAs will ensure communal harmony and avoid conflict of interest in elections for Leh and Kargil,” he said. “The LAHDC is also stripped of its financial and administrative powers. »
They also demand an extension of Article 371, already in vogue in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, for the preservation of land rights and socio-cultural and ethnic identity of indigenous people. They say they can enjoy similar protection since 97 percent of their region is tribal.
Considering the unity of Leh and Kargil as the solution to the struggle, Sajjad Kargil, a senior KDA leader, said that in the absence of guarantees, there were land allocations and environmental and demographic problems on top of it. of the deprivation of political power. “The sixth calendar was part of the manifestos of the previous elections. After the repeal, there was no official recruitment,” Kargili said. “We are concerned about constitutional rights and rising unemployment in the absence of the PSC and the legislature. »
In 2019, when Ladakh was swept by the Modi wave, apparently banking on the abrogation of Article 370, Kargili found itself second in the Lok Sabha polls. He contested independently with the support of the NC and the PDP. Such a wave currently does not exist anywhere in the region.
Former BJP member and BJPDP coalition minister Chering Dorjay, who is also a member of the LAB, said Ladakh was vulnerable but the Center was not moving. “It depends on the new government at the centre,” said Dorjay, who was participating in a series of meetings with the MHA.
Ashraf Ali Barcha, Speaker Anjuman Imamia Leh and LAB member said that without consulting stakeholders in Ladakh, the BJP had imposed its dictates.
“Ladakh is an eco-fragile region and we survive on the depletion of glaciers. “When it is exposed to reckless development, resource mining, we will see an environmental catastrophe as Wangchuk pointed out,” Barcha said.
“We were safe from outside influence when we had Article 370, but now we are vulnerable. We have a population of about three million and will easily be outnumbered and made a minority by outsiders.
Islamia Kargil School President Sheikh Nazir Ul Mehdi Mohammadi said that despite a series of meetings, there has been no result as long as the BJP is in power. However, the spirit of the people remains intact and the struggle will continue.
BJP on the back foot
The constituency will go to the polls on May 20. In anticipation, the BJP dropped its incumbent MP, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who had vehemently supported the removal of Article 370. Now, Tashi Gyalson (chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council and former PDP member) ) would be a BJP candidate.
Earlier, Namgyal gave a long interview to India today editorial director Rahul Kanwal in August 2019, in his special JAB WE MET as he spoke at length about his political and personal journey.
His wife, Sonam Wangmo, spoke about former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested for being a student leader. She thinks what happened with Kumar at JNU was wrong. She said it happened outside her hostel and she knew Kumar was not there. Wangmo was pursuing her doctorate at JNU and said her husband tried to convince her to change her ideology by reading books, but she did not read them.
“In a meeting in which the Minister of Interior was reminded of the promise contained in the manifesto of the last elections, he declared that the outgoing MP would be replaced,” said Haji, insisting on the fact that he lost popularity because he didn’t keep any of his promises. The region, however, sees these elections as a litmus test. “We aim to keep the BJP out of Ladakh.”
“The outgoing MP has not attended a single general council meeting for five years. He always ignored Kargil,” Akhoon alleged. The BJP is trying to field new candidates to counter the ruling opposition, according to Kargili. Efforts were made to communitize the region, but they failed.
Kargili said if NC and Islamia School, Kargil supported him, he would contest the elections. Dorjay believes that the opposition to power is so strong that whoever fights against the BJP will win. The government, they said, has been trying hard to break the Kargil-Leh alliance but has failed so far.
Despite a wave against the BJP, it is not a cakewalk for the Congress since the party’s baggage is being discussed publicly. “The Congress gave mandate to a candidate from Leh and supported its proxy candidate, Asgar Karabalaie in Kargil, to break the votes from Kargil,” Mohammadi said. “Our votes were divided and the BJP emerged victorious.”
Most of the NC members are part of Jamiat Ulema and are against the Congress. Voices are being raised to obtain a mandate for Kargili.
A strategic belt
Ladakh is strategically important as it borders Pakistan and China. “We also demand guarantees under the Constitution, but it will take time,” said Nawang Samstan, a BJP leader. Justifying the departure of outgoing MP Namgya, he said, the party knows that his popularity has disappeared.
Ladakh’s infrastructure has developed particularly in terms of its connectivity and accessibility to the outside world. “Roads, electricity and water have reached places that are too far away,” said Muhammad Hassan Pasha, Ladakh BJP media in-charge.
Academic and political analyst Siddiq Wahid said Ladakh is all about broken promises. “The strategic importance of Ladakh lies in the fact that it is a border area that faces what Delhi considers its two main geopolitical adversaries, China and Pakistan,” Wahid said. “Dissatisfaction and instability in such a region can neither be risked nor allowed – a basic observation of strategic planning. »
After written
Media reports suggest that former BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal is considering contesting independently.
