Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday extended his support to engineer-and-innovator-turned-educational reformist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a 21-day protest fast against the Centre, pushing for his demands that include statehood and implementation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in the region. Wangchuk, who has been on a fast since March 5, has resolved to continue with his fasting phases at Leh’s NDS stadium until the government meets his demands.
Taking to his official handle on X, Kejriwal shared a post by Wangchuk saying, “We are with you and the people of Ladakh. This is very serious and absolutely unacceptable how the centre has cheated Ladakh.” In his post on X, Wangchuk, who is observing a ClimateFast in Ladakh, said his fight was not just for Ladakh but also to erase the ‘trust deficit’ in India.
“Ladakh was promised #6thSchedule Safeguards twice in election manifestos but now the government backtracked after winning 2 elections. Through this struggle, we want to set a good precedence for all times to come. Please support us from your cities,” Wangchuk posted. On the sixth day of his fast on Monday, Wangchuk, in a personalised video post on X, expressed the growing discontent among the people of Ladakh due to the denial of statehood.
“BEGINNING OF DAY 6 OF 21 DAYS #climatefast. Our demand for safeguard of the fragile Himalayas and its #indigenouspeople is not just from the government but also from the citizens living in big cities of the world. We urge you to live simpler lives so that there is less carbon emission and less need for minerals and mining which destroys our mountains. Please live simply in big cities, so we may simply live in the mountains,” the innovator added. After the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories–Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh.
