The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: More than three years after Ladakh was made a union territory and the special protections granted to it under Article 370 were revoked, hundreds of residents from the region gathered in Delhi on Wednesday, February 15, to demand statehood and constitutional safeguards.
For the past few months, people of the region have held protests demanding reservation in jobs and protection under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution to preserve the local culture. The Sixth Schedule allows the formation of administrative divisions that have greater autonomy on legislative, judicial and administrative matters.
According to The Hindu, representatives of Kargil and Leh – the two regions that comprise Ladakh – said their demand for statehood was justified, comparing the region with Sikkim. The latter has a population of 2.5 lakhs, while Ladakh has a population of around 3 lakhs, as per the 2011 Census, they said.
They reiterated the rejection of the high-powered committee (HPC) that was constituted by the home ministry on January 2. They would only hold a dialogue with Union home minister Amit Shah, they said, according to the newspaper, adding that the HPC was “just a pretext to mislead them”.
Former BJP MP from Ladakh, Thupstan Chhewang said that the committee, headed by the minister of state for home Nityanand Rai, did not have “any real power” and did not acknowledge their demands.
The MP claimed that since Ladakh became a UT in October 2019, “not a single job had been given to locals”. According to The Hindu, he warned that if the people’s demands were not met, “they were ready to intensify the protest” and that a “protest calendar” for this year and next year were ready.
“We do not have any separatist mindset; that is why we demanded UT status for Ladakh. There were attempts to create division among the people of Kargil and Leh. The purpose [of coming] to Delhi is to make ourselves heard by the prime minister and home minister of the country,” he said.
Article 370 was read down on August 5, 2019 and the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir; and Ladakh. While the move was initially welcomed by the people of Ladakh – who had complained for years about the “dominance” of Kashmir over them – perceptions have soured in subsequent years.
Leaders of the current protests have admitted that compared to the present scenario, the earlier arrangement (of Ladakh) being part of J&K was better.
The Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), umbrella bodies of social, political and religious leaders, have been spearheading the agitation in Ladakh. Apart from the demand for statehood and inclusion under the sixth schedule, there is also a demand to fill up the two Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seats that represent the region.
Environmentalist and activist Sonam Wangchuk, a prominent leader of the movement, received a rousing welcome on Wednesday as he took the stage, according to The Hindu. “Ladakh is ecologically sensitive. We were expecting UT with a legislature but got one without legislature. We thought it may be on the way. We made the BJP win but gradually they stopped talking about the sixth schedule,” he said.
According to Hindustan Times, he added, “We accepted the formation of UT without a legislature as democratic devolution of power for autonomy, but later we realised it was centralisation.”
Wangchuk was recently put under house arrest during a hunger strike to demand the region’s inclusion under the Sixth Schedule. The administration tried to make him sign a bond that “he will not make any statements/comments or participate in gatherings over recent happenings in Leh”, which he refused.