legitimate demands of the people of Ladakh be met without any further delay

The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch joins other democratic forces of the country to warn the government against such authoritarian actions. It demands that the legitimate demands of the people of Ladakh be met without any further delay.

Jitendra Chaudhury
Pulin Bihari Baske

The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch supports the demand of people of Ladakh for full statehood and the status of 6th Schedule. A vast majority of the population of Ladakh region belong to different Schedule Tribes. The region was converted into a Union Territory through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 pushed through the parliament by the Modi Government in August 2019 using most undemocratic means and brute force. This has resulted in converting an ecologically sensitive and strategically located area of Ladakh into a Union Territory, depriving people of Ladakh a democratic right to have a state legislature. With removal of protections granted hitherto by the Constitution of India, people of Ladakh face an assault on their cultural identity, their land and ecosystem.

Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch fully supports the demand of the Ladakhi People to have a state legislature and for inclusion of Ladakh in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes had also supported the demand for inclusion of Ladakh in the 6th Schedule in 2019 itself. Despite this, the Modi Government has not brought this to the parliament.
AARM also condemns in strongest words the authoritarian and undemocratic arrest of Sonam Wangchuk and hundreds of other activists from Ladakh and Kargil. It is most tragic that people of Ladakh who have been peacefully protesting for months and had walked thousands of kilometers from Ladakh were arrested on the borders of Delhi and were prevented from going to Raj Ghat. These activists were kept under detention for 24 hours, taken to Rajghat only at night, and were not allowed to hold any public meeting to voice their concerns and demands. In the most draconian way, the Delhi Police imposed Section 163 of BNSS in various parts of the city, and declared illegal not just gathering of people but holding of banners and placards.

This kind of authoritarian approach to administration, preventing people from voicing their concerns and issues, has become the hallmark of the BJP government. Its most brutal form was seen during the NRC-CAA protests in 2020 and protests by farmers in 2020-21. The detentions of activists from Ladakh by the Delhi Police shows that the government has not learnt any lesson. The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch joins other democratic forces of the country to warn the government against such authoritarian actions. It demands that the legitimate demands of the people of Ladakh be met without any further delay.