Exclusive | 'A Great Opportunity Lost': Wangchuk On Centre's Refusal To Discuss Core Demands

Srinagar: Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has expressed "little hope" for a breakthrough in the coming "bureaucrat-level" talks in New Delhi, warning that the trust deficit between the Centre and Ladakh is only widening.

The Centre has scheduled the next round of talks with the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance on May 22 in New Delhi to break the impasse set since the February 4 talks. However, instead of a High Powered Committee (HPC) meeting led by the Minister of State for Home, a subcommittee will hold talks.

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Wangchuk, who is part of the Ladakh groups engaged in negotiations with New Delhi, said Home Minister Amit Shah "missed an opportunity" in Leh after he refused to discuss key demands, including statehood and the Sixth Schedule, with the Ladakh leaders. Shah arrived in the cold desert on April 30 for a two-day visit regarding the exposition of Buddha relics on Buddha Purnima. He also met with Ladakh representatives, but restricted the agenda to sacred relics.

A Magsaysay recipient, Wangchuk was arrested under the NSA on September 26, 2025, two days after the 14-day-long hunger strike he led spiralled into violent clashes with police on September 24. Four people were killed, and 90 were wounded in the clashes. He was imprisoned for six months in Rajasthan's Jodhpur jail.

He described the government’s recent announcement of five new districts as a "thoughtless exercise" that misdiagnoses Ladakh's grievances. "People were asking for remedies for heartache, and they are getting headache tablets," he said, pointing out that the move failed to satisfy the Kargil region and would drain the exchequer of Rs 850 crore without addressing democratic aspirations.

Wangchuk signalled that while he hopes not to be compelled, the path toward a renewed Satyagraha remains open. "Peaceful protest is a constitutional right... it is the last resort when nothing else works," he said.

Excerpts from the interview:

ETB: After spending six months in jail, how do you see yourself as a person?

Wangchuk: I hope I am more mature because I finally had the time I had been longing for. I had time to reflect, meditate, read and write. It was a blessing in disguise, personally, though sad for the region. I come out more energised but calmer.

ETB: Can you share some anecdotes from jail?

Wangchuk: The landing was not soft. I was kidnapped from my home and not allowed to call my wife or lawyer. I was told I could call in Leh, Delhi or wherever we stop. But then they denied it under the National Security Act (NSA). I didn't see a non-uniformed face for six months, except for weekly family visits. It was total isolation.

My cell was a huge concrete hall with only grills for windows. It was my coldest winter, although I come from Ladakh, which is known for minus 20 or 30 degrees. But sleeping in the jail cell in the winter was like I was under a bridge in temperatures that felt like two degrees with the wind chill.

ETB: How do you respond to the charges of being called an anti-national and held under the NSA?

Wangchuk: You can only laugh. If it were plausible, I might have been hurt. I have worked for the nation and its soldiers on the borders. I was recently saying, if that person is called anti-national, then your standards must be so high that anybody else in the nation must be so high on how they care about the nation and not about themselves. So, I am only happy if that is the Indian standard of nationalism that I come in the category of anti-national. If I am an anti-national, then I want to congratulate the nation for having set such high standards of patriotism.

ETB: What has changed in Ladakh since the violence erupted in September?

Wangchuk: It has become a police state where free speech is stifled. The smallest comment gets a call from the police. So, there was a lot of silence in Ladakh and that is why people wondered why Ladakh is so silent when the entire nation is raising a voice about the arrest and so on.

I learned that people were under such duress and fear that they were made to delete videos of the September incidents from their phones. People were taken into custody, and FIRs were filed to maintain the fear. But since I came out of jail last month, people are trying to speak up for their own issues or demands.

ETB: Why has the formation of new districts in Ladakh triggered friction?

Wangchuk: Except for Zanskar, it wasn't a public demand. People were seeking remedies for heartaches, and they are getting medicine for headaches. In Kargil, it has particularly not gone well because it felt unequal. Kargil has only three, and Leh has five districts. Although it's true, Leh is much larger geographically than Kargil.

But Kargil has so many villages, 80 of them are grouped into one district. They could have easily made two districts out of Kargil and that would have made more sense. Kargil has too little for its size. The exercise serves no purpose. It feels like an attempt to divide, but it will likely only unite people in their dissatisfaction. It's just a thoughtless, extravagant exercise costing the exchequer by Rs 850 crores at a time when they say Ladakh has no revenue. They actually increase the expenditure for something that was not demanded.

ETB: You met Home Minister Amit Shah in Leh last week. Did you discuss demands like statehood and the Sixth Schedule?

Wangchuk: Three days before the arrival of the Home Minister to Leh, I had said that if they really want to build trust for a meaningful and constructive dialogue, the Centre should announce a high-powered committee meeting in Leh. But we were disappointed after they denied. I was surprised that the meeting was not about Ladakh's core issues. I thought it was an open, friendly meeting to discuss anything about the current situation in Ladakh. But it was restricted to discussing the holy relics and development.

I told the home minister that while we admire the Centre's development efforts, Ladakh is concerned about democratic rights and safeguards. But the Home Minister pushed it to the subcommittee meeting on May 22. He said that those issues can be discussed there, and this is purely a religious visit, which I was not expecting. I know the next day was Buddha Jayanti and a purely religious event. But the meeting on the eve, I thought, was to connect to the people.

I asked to make the May 22 meeting a high-powered committee meeting. But again, the Home Minister didn't give a positive response. He said subcommittees are important, and if things work out, we can call it a high-powered meeting later. They missed a great opportunity to heal wounds and build trust.

ETB: What are you looking forward to in the coming meeting?

Wangchuk: We have little hope from the coming subcommittee meeting. It is a bureaucrat-level meeting, and such meetings drag on without any serious decision. So, not much hope is tied to it.

ETB: Several rounds of talks occurred, but as you said, nothing has worked so far. What is the next concrete step in the negotiation process?

Wangchuk: It only indicates that it's not a simple positive outcome that we can look up to. It is perhaps going to be a long struggle. So be it. Ladakh's struggle will not just disappear because the HPC didn't happen in Leh or was not proposed on May 22. The struggle will go on. What form it will take is for the collective leadership to decide in the coming days and weeks.

ETB: The Centre fulfilled Ladakh’s long-pending demand for a Union Territory in 2019. Why is the demand for the Sixth Schedule so persistent now?

Wangchuk: Ladakh had been demanding a Union Territory with a legislature, effectively a state-like assembly. However, after the Leh Apex body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance joined hands, we escalated this to a demand for full statehood. If the restoration of statehood has been promised to Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh also deserves the same democratic rights as both UTs were carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

While we upped our demand, it is clear that the leadership remains open to negotiations for UT with the Assembly. It may be too early for full statehood as UTs with a legislature gradually evolve into a state later.

Regarding the Sixth Schedule, this was not our demand until 2019. It was the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that pledged the sixth schedule in their manifestos in 2019 and 2020. They secured victories in both the Parliamentary and Leh Hill Council elections based on those specific promises. We are simply demanding that they fulfil them now.

ETB: Are Ladakh groups ready to make any concession with regard to these two demands?

Wangchuk: The leadership of Leh Apex and KDA have always remained flexible, advocating for a give-and-take approach to reach a mutually acceptable solution. They have asked the Centre to propose the offer. But nothing has come from the Centre. If a middle path is the goal, then the Centre must share what is on the table.

ETB: You have expressed concerns regarding Ladakh’s fragile environment and tourism since 2019.

Wangchuk: The reason why I am in the scene is that I am concerned about the environment and ecology, not only of Ladakh but the entire Himalayas and the whole planet. That is my raison d'etre.

Careless industrialisation and mass tourism threaten a region that two billion people depend on in the plains of North India. Ladakh’s tourism is an example of a global case study for organic, community-based success. Replacing this with profit-driven multinational chains would be catastrophic. India can become a Vishwaguru by promoting Ladakh as a sustainable alternative, rather than repeating the mistakes that ruined places like Bangkok or Goa.

ETB: Do you have plans to resume your Satyagraha against the Centre?

Wangchuk: I hope not. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right, but it is always a last resort. I have great hope that I won't be compelled to return to it and that lessons have been learned to resolve these issues amicably and swiftly.

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