The Centre government has accused climate activist Sonam Wangchuk for the deadly clashes that happened in Ladakh yesterday, killing four, and leaving 70 injured, including police officials. The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement, “In spite of many leaders urging to call off the hunger strike, he continued with it and misled the people through provocative mentions of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal.”
The statement further read that mob was motivated by his provocative speeches, and they suddenly left the venue of the strike and attacked political party office as well as the government office of the CEC Leh, “It is clear that the mob was guided by Sonam Wangchuk through his provocative statements,” the statement further read.
Price of the narrow politics
This isn’t the first time that the government has targeted Sonam Wangchuk, earlier too the government sources had mentioned that the current situation in Ladakh isn’t something that happened on its own, it is deliberate and engineered. A government source had even mentioned that youngsters of Ladakh are paying the price of the narrow politics that certain individuals are playing, and their hidden ambition.
During a media interaction, the Leh deputy commissioner said that a section of protestors torched the hall of the Ladakh Hill Council Assembly and 50 police personnels were injured in stone pelting by mob.
Strike called off
Post this aggression by mob, Sonam Wangchuk who was on strike for the past 35 days, called off the hunger strike. This aggression happened despite the Centre’s announcement of an October 6 meeting with a committee to discuss issues raised by the Apex Body, Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).
Uncalled aggression
Government sources confirmed that a few meetings were lined up with government on September 25, 26 and questioned when talks were already lined up then such a violent protest was uncalled for
MHA said, talks already happening with Apex Body Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance, “The process of dialogue through this mechanism has yielded phenomenal results by increasing reservations for Ladakh’s Scheduled Tribes from 45 per cent to 84 per cent, providing 1/3 women reservations in the councils and declaring Bhoti and Purgi as official languages. With this, the process for recruitment to 1,800 posts also commenced. However, certain politically motivated individuals who were not happy with the progress made under HPC have been trying to sabotage the dialogue process.”
Government sources pointed out that Sonam Wangchuk’s reference to the Gen Z protests in Nepal seemed like a blueprint. Source said that it seemed as if he was using a platform to hide certain irregularities that are coming to light now.
Sonam Wangchuk’s appeal
“I request the youth of Ladakh to stop the violence forthwith as it only causes harm to our cause and further deteriorates the situation. We do not want instability in Ladakh and the country. This is the saddest day for Ladakh and for myself personally because the path we are treading for the last five years was peaceful… We held hunger strikes on five occasions and walked from Leh to Delhi but today we are seeing our message of peace failing because of the incidents of violence and arson,” he said.