‘Use ballot power carefully’: Activist Sonam Wangchuk ends 21-day hunger strike for Ladakh statehood
Women groups will now begin a 10-day fast, followed by young people and Buddhist monks.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on Tuesday urged voters to “use their ballot power very carefully this time” as he ended his 21-day hunger strike demanding statehood for Ladakh and the protection of the Himalayan ecology.
“The first phase has ended but the hunger strike has not come to a close,” Wangchuk said in a video shared on social media. “After me, women will begin a 10-day fast tomorrow. This will be followed by the youth taking up the fast and then the Buddhist monks. Then, it could be women or I could come back. This cycle will go on.”
Wangchuk was on a hunger strike to press the Centre to implement the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for Ladakh.
The Sixth Schedule under Article 244 (Administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas) of the Constitution of India guarantees certain protections for land and a nominal autonomy for citizens in designated tribal areas. In Ladakh, more than 97% of the population belongs to the Scheduled Tribes.
On August 5, 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government rescinded the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
This, along with the lack of a legislature...
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