New Delhi. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who came to Delhi with various demands including inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule, sat on a fast at Ladakh Bhawan on Sunday after not being allowed to protest at Jantar Mantar. He is staying in Ladakh Bhawan in Delhi.
Wangchuk, in a brief conversation with the media before starting the fast, said that due to not getting any space for his movement, he was forced to protest at Ladakh Bhawan itself. Soon after, he and others sat near the gate of Ladakh Bhawan, after which heavy police force was deployed there and entry was limited.
The climate activist, who led a march to Delhi demanding inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule, said he was assured of a meeting with the top leadership (President, Prime Minister or Home Minister), but he is yet to meet. It was not given, due to which he was forced to sit on a fast.
Wangchuk told PTI, “When we ended our hunger strike at Rajghat on October 2, it was based on the assurance that we would get time from the Home Ministry to meet senior leaders of the country. “We just want to meet our politicians, seek assurances and return to Ladakh.” He said, “We were told that we will be given time till October 4 to meet the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister. We also canceled the public meeting at Rajghat because we did not want any conflict.”
Wangchuk said, “We just wanted assurance from our leaders and then wanted to return to Ladakh. However, this was not done even after vacating Rajghat and ending his hunger strike. Therefore, we were forced to go on a hunger strike once again.” He said that when the police told him that the protest at Jantar Mantar is allowed only from 10 am to 5 pm, he agreed to it.
“We even said that we can sit at Jantar Mantar from 10 am to 5 pm and after that we will move to some unspecified place, but they rejected this too… We told them that they cannot give us any information. Give them whatever place they feel is appropriate, but we were not given any place.
He told PTI, “So we thought that this is the building of the people of Ladakh where I was kind of under detention, although it was not full detention… So we thought that since we were not being allowed to go out , So we will sit here in protest.” Wangchuk said he and many protesters have walked more than 1,000 kilometers to Delhi in 32 days to meet the country’s leadership.
“Many marchers have left, but there are still many people, including women, elderly and ex-servicemen, who want to meet the leaders,” he said. He said that Gandhian protest will continue. He said, “We are following the path shown by Gandhi and we will continue our peaceful protest. We are on hunger strike.” About 18 people including Wangchuk sat near the gate of Ladakh Bhawan. These people were singing the song “Hum Honge Kamyab” and raising slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Jai Ladakh’ and ‘Save Ladakh, Save Himalayas’. Wangchuk said in a post released on social media platform ‘X’ on Sunday morning that he has not been given permission to fast at Jantar Mantar.
“Another rejection, another disappointment,” he said. finally? “This morning we received this rejection letter for the officially designated venue for the protest.” Climate activist Wangchuk is leading the ‘Delhi Chalo Padyatra’, which started from Leh a month ago. The march has been organized by ‘Leh Apex Body’, which along with Kargil Democratic Alliance has been agitating for the last four years to get statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Most of the protesters returned to Ladakh on Saturday, while the remaining protesters remained here to join the fast with Wangchuk.