Politics

Political temperatures rising in the cold desert region of Ladakh

Ladhakis demand 'statehood', constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule

February 20, 2023

Centre running out of options to contain the growing unrest

The cold desert region of Ladakh may still have been witnessing sub-zero weather conditions. Still, the political temperatures are soaring with the arrival of the new Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Brigadier (Retired) B D Mishra.

On Sunday the Chief Justice of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh High Court Justice N Kotiswar Singh administered the oath of office to him at Raj Niwas in Leh.

The sudden move to replace R K Mathur, the first LG of the Union Territory of Ladakh, last week may not have come as a surprise to those closely watching the political developments in the region but the timing of the decision clearly suggested that the New Delhi was running out of options to contain the political unrest in the area.

Since November 2022, the local residents of Leh and Kargil districts have been demanding statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule, two separate parliamentary seats for Leh and Kargil and formation of a public service commission, early completion of the recruitment process to fill the vacancies, etc.

These demonstrations and public meetings were held under the banner of Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance.

To engage with these people the Union government in January 2023 had set up a high-powered committee for Ladakh with representatives from KDA and LAB. However, the two bodies announced a boycott of the committee unless their demands are put on its agenda.

The shifting of LG R K Mathur was also directly linked with the ongoing tug-of-war between the UT administration and the local population.

By shifting Mathur the Centre was trying to buy some more time before making up its mind on how to handle the situation.

Interestingly, Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an amalgam of social, political, trade, students, and religious groups from Ladakh, have attached no importance to the change of LG.

One of the senior leaders Asghar Ali Karbali of KDA, while reacting to this change, said that the BJP government should change the policies and not the faces in Ladakh.

He said they were waiting for the Union Home Ministry to accept their genuine demands so that the people of Ladakh get their democratic rights.

After holding their protest demonstrations at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar the joint leadership had threatened to further intensify their agitation in support of their demands.

Now it remains to be seen whether the new Lieutenant Governor Brigadier (Retd) B D Mishra would be able to engage with the local leadership and convince them to initiate a dialogue process to discuss their charter of demands before launching the second leg of the agitation.

During the talks, the representatives of the UT administration may have to succumb to some of their genuine demands such as enhancing the budgetary support for the Autonomous Hill Council of both Leh and Kargil and engaging them in the decision-making process for local issues. The common grievance of people across Leh and Kargil districts, post-Abrogation of Article 370 and reorganization of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, is that the entire decision-making process has gone into the hands of the bureaucrats and Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor.

One of the senior leaders of the region and former MP Thupstan Chhewang has been regularly raising his voice in support of these demands.

In his public speeches, he has been claiming that he was assured by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that a Sixth Schedule would be given to the entire population of Ladakh to allay their fears that their land and jobs are vulnerable to outsiders. “After holding several meetings with the Union Home Minister, I was sure that we would get the Sixth Schedule immediately. Even the Union Tribal Affairs Minister gave us written assurance that the Union Territory of Ladakh having over 90% of the population as a Scheduled Tribe would be given the constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule. Now, it seems BJP does not want to empower the common people of Ladakh”.

During their protests at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Ladakshi leadership made it clear, “We wanted to become a Union Territory, but we never imagined it would be without a legislature. There is no participation of people anymore in how the budget allocated to us is spent. The Autonomous Hill Council has also been weakened, and the issue of statehood is of utmost importance to the people of Ladakh”.

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2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus

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