On September 24, protests for local rights turned violent in Leh, where an office of the BJP was vandalized and set on fire.Locals accused the BJP of giving false promises. Later, four protesters were killed in police firing.
Ladakh is tense, and this is bad news for India. This cold desert at the country’s northern tip is where the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC)—the unofficial border between India and China—runs.
Ladakh is surrounded by disputed lands. To the east is Aksai Chin, held by China but claimed by India, and to the north is Gilgit-Baltistan, controlled by Pakistan.
Because of past conflicts with Pakistan and China, Ladakh’s borders are very sensitive. The last thing India does not want to happen here is internal trouble—but that is what is happening now.
On September 24, protests for local rights turned violent in Leh, where an office of the BJP was vandalized and set on fire.Locals accused the BJP of giving false promises. Later, four protesters were killed in police firing.
The police crackdown and claims that the protest was backed by Pakistan have worsened the situation. As of September 29, curfew and mobile internet ban are still in place.
Along with the police firing, the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk, a well-known educationist and environmentalist who won the Ramon Magsaysay award, has angered locals.
Sonam Wangchuk is among Ladakh’s most famous people—partly because the character “Rancho” in the Bollywood hit Three Idiots was inspired by him, making him widely known across India.
People are very angry with the authorities, and their trust in the administration has fallen sharply, Chering Dorjay Lakruk, President of the Ladakh Buddhist Association and co-convenor of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), told The Diplomat.
After the violence, the police and paramilitary forces arrested dozens of people for vandalism and attacking security personnel.In support of the protesters, the Bar Association Leh decided to defend all accused for free and demanded a judicial inquiry under a magistrate’s supervision.
Concerns were raised that calling the movement ‘anti-national’ and making indiscriminate arrests with police force could make the situation worse,” said Mohd Shafi Lassu, President, Bar Association Leh.
Sense of Betrayal
Ladakh was once part of Jammu & Kashmir state. In August 2019, the Modi government removed J&K’s statehood and special status, and split it into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. While Union Territories are run by the Central Government, there is a difference between the two. Jammu & Kashmir is a Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly, so it can have a Chief Minister, like Delhi and Puducherry. But Ladakh has no Assembly and therefore no Chief Minister. It is directly governed by the Central Government through a Lieutenant Governor.
Unlike Jammu & Kashmir, which has faced insurgency (armed rebellion or violent uprising) and unrest for decades, Ladakh has remained peaceful. It has two districts — Leh with a Buddhist majority and Kargil with a Muslim majority.
Leh people first welcomed being separated from J&K, but later realized that ending the special status with the removal of Articles 370 and 35A allowed outsiders and big companies to enter and use local resources.
Since 2021, leaders from Leh and Kargil have together demanded a four-point agenda — statehood, protection under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, a Public Service Commission (PSC) for local jobs, and one more parliamentary seat for Ladakh.
Why Does the Sixth Schedule Matter ? : The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution deals with tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. It allows these areas to be run as autonomous regions.It gives tribal rights protection, local self-rule through special councils, cultural preservation, and control over land and resources. These councils can also collect taxes and set up schools, markets, and infrastructure, ensuring development that respects local traditions.
They fear that without safeguards, big business corporations will grab their lands. Large solar park projects in Ladakh have only increased these worries.
Giving Ladakh Sixth Schedule status was one of the BJP’s election promises before the 2019 parliamentary polls.This promise helped BJP win Ladakh with a clear majority. After that, the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST), an independent body, also supported the demand for Sixth Schedule status.
The Modi government delayed the issue. In January 2021, Home Minister Amit Shah told a Ladakh team to stay open to other constitutional safeguards. Soon, BJP began talking about protections “on the line of Sixth Schedule” instead of giving Sixth Schedule status directly.
As a result, Ladakh has seen repeated protests, including hunger strikes and marches, in the last four years.
The Burst of Anger
The latest protests began on September 10, when Wangchuk and 14 others, including seven ex-Indian Army soldiers, started a 35-day hunger strike to push for their four demands. The protest site saw large crowds.
On September 23, after two elderly protesters on a 13-day hunger strike were hospitalized due to poor health, the Congress party warned the government that the situation could become dangerous if it did not respond.
The next day, trouble started when some protesters gathered outside the BJP’s Ladakh office and attacked it.
Senior leaders from outside Ladakh blamed the Union government for the violence. Most of Ladakh’s leaders disapproved of the clashes and condemned police actions. In protest against the violence, Wangchuk ended his fast and left the sit-in site (protest venue).
On September 26, the government arrested Wangchuk, took him out of Ladakh, and reportedly jailed him in Jodhpur. He was booked under the National Security Act (NSA).
The CBI started a probe against Wangchuk’s institution, the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), and the government cancelled its license to receive foreign funds.
Government leaders and officials downplayed Wangchuk’s hunger strike, saying it was unnecessary. According to them, the issues he raised were already being addressed in the government’s talks with representatives from Ladakh.
The government alleged that even though many leaders asked Wangchuk to end his hunger strike, he continued and was misleading people by talking about Arab Spring-style protests (public uprisings in Arab nations demanding democracy, freedom, and end of corruption) and Gen Z protests in Nepal (youth-led movements using social media and street protests to demand reforms).
The police claimed that the Wangchuk-led protests had suspected Pakistan links. They said a Pakistani national, recently arrested, was in touch with Wangchuk and sent reports across the border.
The police cited Wangchuk’s participation in an event by “The Dawn”, a major Pakistani newspaper, to support their claim of Pakistan links.
“These allegations are false. We condemn the attempt by some in the administration, politicians, and media to brand our peaceful protests on legitimate demands as ‘’anti-national,’” said Sajjad Kargili of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).
On September 29, LAB (Leh Apex Body) Chairman Thupstan Chhewang announced that they will boycott talks with the Union government until normalcy returns in Ladakh. Their demands include a probe into police firing, withdrawal of cases against protesters, and their release. The KDA supported the LAB’s stand.
The central government had planned a talk with a Ladakhi delegation on October 6, but it is now uncertain.
(The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com)
(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not reflect those of DNA)
