Aathira Perinchery 
Bengaluru: On the evening of Wednesday (October 2) amidst heavy security deployment, the Delhi police released detained climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and members of the Climate March and brought them to Rajghat – as per their demands – to pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi, whose birth anniversary is celebrated today.
At Rajghat, Wangchuk told the media that he had submitted a memorandum to the Union government about Ladakh’s demands to provide the required constitutional safeguards so as to ensure the protection of the Himalaya.
The home ministry has guaranteed them that they will be able to meet with leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hence they were breaking their fasts on this guarantee, Wangchuk said.
Wangchuk and many Climate Marchers, who had been detained by the police since the night of September 30 on the Singhu border and taken to several police stations in Delhi, had been on indefinite fasts while in custody for nearly 48 hours, in protest of their detention.
Earlier, in an online press conference organised in the afternoon of October 2 by the People for Himalaya and Youth For Himalaya, collectives of organisations across the mountain range, members of the contingent, including one who had been detained reiterated that their detention was now “illegal” as 24 hours had long passed since they were detained and they hadn’t been presented before a magistrate.
The detainees were able to attend the press conference owing to their access to a phone at the time.
Activists and environmentalists from other Himalayan states including Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand reiterated their solidarity with the Ladakhis’ demands and the Climate March, saying that the issues that they were raising concern all Himalayan states and the fragile ecosystems across the mountain range.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police also detained around ten members of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) at around noon on October 2, including social and environmental activists Medha Patkar and Prafulla Samantara, who were sitting at the Gulab Vatika in silent protest and in solidarity with the detained Climate Marchers.
They were later taken to Rajghat and then released later in the afternoon.
Have submitted memorandum to govt: Wangchuk
At around 10 pm on October 2, the Delhi police brought Wangchuk and members of the Climate March to Rajghat, though late as per their scheduled plan.
The visit to Rajghat was one of the pit stops planned in the 1,000 km-long Climate March led by Wangchuk, from Leh to Delhi, in which around 150 people including 80-year-olds are participating.
Their earlier plan had been to resume their peaceful walk into Delhi on October 1 and reach Rajghat on October 2, following which they planned to meet the Union government to submit their demands, which includes the implantation of the sixth schedule in Ladakh.
However, the Delhi police had imposed a six-day prohibitory order on the night of September 30 banning the assembly of more than five people as well as imposing other conditions.
Soon after, the police detained Wangchuk and several others at the Singhu border and took them to several police stations and locations across Delhi.
The Climate Marchers began indefinite fasts in protest and demanded that they be taken to Rajghat, as per their schedule, on October 2.
At Rajghat, addressing the media on the night of October 2, Wangchuk said that they did face “some problems” when they arrived at Delhi because they were detained by the police. However, whatever happens, happens for the good, he said.
Wangchuk said it was important to remember what Gandhi said about the environment and that one must “live simply so that others may simply live”. He added that in whichever city one lived, one must remember that the excessive use of electricity and other resources impacts the environment in places like Ladakh and the Himalaya.
“Like Bapu had said, there is enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed,” Wangchuk said, stressing on the need for people to maintain more sustainable and simpler lifestyles.
Wangchuk told the media that he had submitted a memorandum to the Union government about Ladakh’s demands to provide the required constitutional safeguards so as to ensure the protection of the Himalaya.
“In the case of Ladakh, this is the sixth schedule which will ensure that local communities will have a bigger stake in governance,” he said.
He added that the home ministry had guaranteed them that they will be able to meet India’s top leaders, including the prime minister, the president and the home minister over the days to engage in discussions about this.
“We have broken our fasts on this guarantee and our padyatra to the Rajghat is also now over,” Wangchuk said.
‘Illegal detention’?
Earlier, at the online press conference conducted by the People for Himalaya and Youth For Himalaya on October 2, Rajneesh Sharma, a lawyer from Himachal Pradesh who is part of the Climate March, said that the detentions were “illegal” after the night of October 1 because as per law, the police are permitted to detain individuals only for 24 hours, after which they have to be presented before a magistrate. However, this was not done, Sharma said.
He added that the Delhi police tried to move some people, including Wangchuk, to another undisclosed location on the night of October 1 but that the Ladakhis refused.
The conditions of the rooms that they were detained in were also “very bad”, he claimed.
Hassan Tamanna, one of the participants of the Climate March, shaved his head in protest of the detentions, saying that “democracy [had] been killed”, PTI quoted him as saying.
On the morning of October 2, some detainees were told that they would be released soon. This included Sajjid Kargili, a Ladakhi who joined the Climate March from Chandigarh.
At the Youth For Himalaya’s conference, Kargili told media persons that he and several others including 23 women (as well as a 70-year-old) were being detained at the Arya Samaj at Narela, Delhi.
As of 4 pm on October 2, most members detained across all stations and locations were into more than 40 hours of their fast and had still not been released.
At around noon on October 2, the Delhi police also detained around ten members of the NAPM, including Patkar and Samantara. The NAPM’s Sunilam confirmed to The Wire that though they were detained and taken into custody in the IP Estate police station, the Delhi police took them to Rajghat later the same afternoon and then released them there.
“We are with the andolan [Climate March],” Sunilam, who is also a core committee member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a body of more than 500 farmers’ unions across India, told The Wire on the evening of October 2.
He added that the NAPM resonates especially with the Climate March’s aims to save the Himalaya, which would in turn save the country and even South Asia.
‘Will continue our demands’
Earlier, at the Youth For Himalaya press conference on October 2, Kargili, who is associated with the Kargil Democratic Alliance, said that the Climate March’s four demands were very clear: that Ladakh be given statehood so that its voice may be heard; that the National Democratic Alliance-led Union government implement the sixth schedule in Ladakh as the BJP promised Ladakh it would; that people from the local community be given jobs in the government and be eligible for gazetted positions; and that the Union government ensure that the widespread grazing and other lands that are used by local communities and are common lands – which include areas that contain glaciers that feed streams and in turn the Ladakhis’ crops – not be classified as government land as it is now being done.
“These demands are not unconstitutional … but instead our rights have been stolen and powers given instead to the lieutenant governor. We have no personal angst against the Union government or the lieutenant governor,” Kargili said to mediapersons at the press conference.
“We have stepped out of our Leh-Kargil sentiments, out of our Buddhist-Muslim sentiments, out of all of our regional sentiments and linguistic sentiments … to say that our very existence is under threat.”
He added that the issues in the entire Himalayan region – whether it be Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh or Sikkim – and the grievances of all these areas are collective and similar.
Tsering Dolma, a Ladakhi from the Nubra Valley, said at the press conference that the detentions were a violation of the Ladakhis’ fundamental rights and that the implementation of the sixth schedule – which essentially designates a region as a tribal area – was crucial for Ladakh because around 97% of its population is tribal.
The implementation of the sixth schedule is therefore linked to the protection of Ladakh’s environment and if this was not done, all Ladakhis would soon become “climate refugees” considering the rate at which climate change is accelerating, she added.
“Today all of Ladakh is unhappy because our people have been detained,” said the student activist.
Issues raised concern all Himalayan States
Activists and environmentalists from other Himalayan states including Atul Sati, president of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, reiterated their solidarity with the Ladakhis’ demands and the Climate March and condemned the detentions. They opined that the issues that the Ladakhis were raising were ones that concern all Himalayan states and the fragile environment in the region.
These issues go beyond state and even national boundaries, as the recent floods in Nepal have shown, said Mayalmit Lepcha, general secretary of the Affected Citizens of Teesta in Sikkim.
Heavy rains triggered landslides and floods in Nepal over the last weekend and at least 200 people have died as of October 2.
In all cases, local communities bear the brunt, she added, citing the cloudburst that occurred in Sikkim, upstream of the Teesta-III dam and caused it to collapse, killing and injuring many. The incident occurred a year ago, on October 4, and people have still not received proper compensation, nor have they been properly rehabilitated, Lepcha said.
“People should think beyond petty politics … listen to the Ladakhis instead of detaining them,” she said.
Lawyer and activist Ebo Mili, who is associated with the Dibang Resistance in Arunachal Pradesh, said that he too is in solidarity with the Ladakhis’ movement, but that such a reaction from the Union government was not unexpected.
“It was very much expected that Wangchuk’s movement would be crushed under this regime,” he said. He added that the detentions were all illegal because they had lasted for more than 24 hours and that this was not just a violation of fundamental rights but human rights too.