Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and other residents are sitting on a hunger strike, which they plan to continue for 35 days, in Leh amid demands for Statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the Union Territory in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Civil society leaders from Ladakh, who are demanding constitutional safeguards for the region, said on Monday (September 22, 2025) that the Union Home Ministry’s decision to call them for talks on October 6 was “unilateral”. They said the Ministry should have called the meeting sooner since the hunger strike by residents in Leh has entered the 13th day.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and other residents are sitting on a hunger strike, which they plan to continue for 35 days, in Leh amid demands for Statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the Union Territory in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, giving the region a tribal status.
Speaking at a virtual press conference from Leh, Cherring Dorjay Lakruk, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) and co-convener of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) which is spearheading the protests, said: “People are getting impatient now and matters can go out of our hands. So far, the hunger strike and our protests have been peaceful. Past experience shows that they (government) start taking us lightly if we do not exert pressure. The talks called by the Ministry are very late, they should take place as soon as possible.”
Mr. Wangchuk said a delay in resolution of demands will affect the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming hill council elections.
“They (government) can even go to the extent of postponing the polls or dissolving the elections, but that would be akin to foul play. They (BJP) should honour the promise made during the 2020 hill council elections (on granting Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh),” he said.
When asked by The Hindu if Home Ministry officials have ever, in the past, assured granting of Statehood and Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh during the talks, Mr. Lakruk said, “When the Union Home Secretary came to Leh, he said that the next round of talks would focus on the two subjects.”
Mr. Wangchuk said it was not easy to fast at an altitude of 12,000 feet and despite challenges of dehydration, the locals who had come from remote villages “bordering Tibet” were determined to continue the agitation.
“The youth wing is ready to intensify the protest in their own way. We have been protesting for the past five years, even the Indian Constitution was framed in two years,” he said.
Following renewed protests in Ladakh, on September 20, the Ministry called for the next round of talks of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) on Ladakh on October 6. The last meeting was held on May 27.
Formed in 2023, the HPC, led by Minister of State Nityanand Rai, is engaged in talks with LAB and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) over the demand of constitutional safeguards for the region that became a Union Territory in 2019. Ladakh, situated along the China border, became a Union Territory in 2019 without a Legislative Assembly after Article 370 of the Constitution was read down by Parliament.
A year later, the region, comprising the Buddhist-dominated Leh and Muslim-dominated Kargil district, erupted in protests with civil society leaders pressing for constitutional safeguards, job reservation for locals, and a parliamentary seat each for Leh and Kargil.
Published – September 22, 2025 09:37 pm IST
