Blundering on in Ladakh

Dialogue, not arrogance and smear campaign, is the way forward in sensitive region

Alok Tiwari

Two years after it spectacularly and tragically messed up Manipur, one would have thought the central government had learnt its lessons. That turned out to be false hope. Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally visited the troubled northeastern state, another border region blew up. This time it is Ladakh, an area much more sensitive and vital than Manipur. On Sept 24, a gathering of youths in Leh demanding statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in Sixth Schedule of the Constitution turned violent. The resulting firing by security forces left four people dead. Scientist and environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a protest fast for the same demands, called it off calling for peace. That, however, did not prevent government from arresting him under the draconian National Security Act and whisking him away to Jodhpur.

Ladakh again demonstrated, if more evidence was needed, the total absence of political problem-solving skills in present-day BJP and Modi government. Ladakh was one of the party’s gains in the aftermath of removal of Art 370 in 2019. The party had no presence in the region ever. But after having carved it out as a union territory, it presented itself as the region’s saviour. Ladakhis had long wanted an identity distinct from larger J&K. They thought this was happening with gaining of UT status. Then, during the last Hill Council elections, BJP promised inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule that promises further protection to the people and lands of specified tribal areas. Union Home Minister Amit Shah went on record in Parliament that Ladakh will be made a full state.

The result: BJP not only had its first ever MP from Ladakh but also swept the Hill Council elections. Six years later though, those gains have been squandered. Now the region is boiling with anti-BJP sentiment. Major leaders who had aligned themselves with the party are abandoning it. The reason is that after winning elections, the party forgot its promises. Let alone full statehood, it is now dragging its feet over even the Sixth Schedule protection.

Not just that, Ladakhis are not happy about the mega development that BJP leaders seem to ready to impose on their ecologically fragile area. BJP’s idea of development is building massive roads, opening vast areas for mining, encouraging building and construction boom to foster mass tourism. No prizes for guessing who would benefit from such investments. Ladakhis, like many others in the country, were convinced that Art 370 was hampering their growth. They are now beginning to see that it had protected their land and their way of life.

The discontent had been simmering for quite a long time. But it was met with indifference and arrogance. Not only did the government not engage with the rank and file in the movement but it chose to denigrate them as foreign stooges and anti-nationals, BJP’s standard playbook in dealing with any kind of dissent. This approach has now resulted in the most remarkable self-goal by the party in Ladakh. Even now it is failing to see the blunder. Officials are calling the movement leaders “fringe elements” and wondering why, despite building of roads and internet infrastructure, people are unhappy.

The party’s propaganda machinery has been in full swing since days prior to Wangchuk’s detention. Pliant media IS carrying stories quoting anonymous officials about foreign money coming to his NGO. The organization’s sanction to receive funds from abroad was cancelled. Even his visit to Pakistan to participate in a UN meet, that the government itself allowed, was projected as “link” with Pakistan. He was then picked up in an intimidating raid. Wangchuk is the most known and admired figure not just in the region but also nationally and internationally. Tarnishing him in this manner is a huge political faux pas.

In Ladakh, BJP is making the same mistake that Congress made in Kashmir valley in the 80s. It sought to have a pliant government in place even if it meant rigging elections and engineering political defections. It forgot Kashmir is not MP or Rajasthan. More sensitivity is needed in regions that are not fully integrated with the national mainstream. Congress’s bungling in Kashmir alienated even those who until then were not anti-India.

BJP’s action, or the lack of it, in Ladakh is likely to have the same effect. Only the consequences will be much worse. Patriotic Ladakhis have always helped Indian armed forces maintain control of the vast and sparsely populated area having a hostile physical and military environment. They have alerted Army to Pakistan and Chinese transgressions and continue to provide logistical help in maintaining forces’ presence in the area. Both Pakistan and China must be salivating at what we are doing to the people there.

The Centre finds itself tied in the knot of its own making. Scrapping of Art 370 and carving out J&K into two union territories in 2019 was seen as a masterstroke. Now that very step is coming back to haunt the government. If it grants statehood to Ladakh that it promised, it will have to give the same to Kashmir, that it also promised. Not doing so will risk much bigger unrest. Full statehood will subject several actions of Centre, including deployment of security forces, to approval of state governments. Centre held much more leeway in the old state of J&K under Art 370. Restoring that will be politically suicidal for the BJP and is hence out of question.

The task ahead may be difficult, but it is still not too late for the Centre to begin a sincere dialogue with Ladakh’s people. For that the government should demonstrate good faith and refrain from painting anyone in opposition as anti-national. Releasing Wangchuk unconditionally will be a good first step. There is no shame in correcting a mistake. It needs to remember what its intransigence during farmers’ agitation had cost.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Oct 5, 2025