LAB meets in Leh, Chhewang reaches Kargil; joint meeting soon
Statehood, 6th Schedule, 2 LS seats major demands
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 21: With winters almost over, Ladakh has again braced up for launching mass movement in support of its four main demands including Statehood for the Union Territory as representatives of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), the two bodies jointly fighting for the cause, didn’t receive any invite from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for talks. Even the MHA didn’t set up a Committee for talks with representatives of Ladakh as promised earlier.
To give momentum to the agitational programme which was suspended during harsh winters in Ladakh after complete bandh on December 13, 2021, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) met in Leh under the chairmanship of Thupstan Chhewang, a two-time Lok Sabha member, and decided to resume agitation jointly with the KDA.
Soon after the meeting, Chhewang is reported to have left for Kargil for talks with the KDA leaders and finalize date and venue for joint meeting of LAB and KDA shortly to give final touch to the agitational programme. It will be decided whether the KDA leaders will travel to Leh or LAB representatives will tour Kargil for the meeting.
Four major demands projected in the LAB meeting and which have been raised earlier also collectively by the LAB and KDA include Statehood for Ladakh, Sixth Schedule like status, two Parliamentary seats instead of one and Government jobs for the youth.
“The LAB meeting was attended by almost all major political parties, social, religious and student organizations excepting the BJP,” LAB leader and former Minister Chering Dorjay told the Excelsior on telephone from Leh.
The BJP, it may be mentioned, has dissociated itself from the LAB as it is not supporting demand for Statehood to Ladakh on the ground that grant of Union Territory status was major demand of the Himalayan region which was fulfilled by the Central Government on August 5, 2019 while abrogating special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating erstwhile State into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
Dorjay said there has been no invitation to the LAB and KDA from the Union Home Ministry for talks. Even the MHA hasn’t set up any Committee for holding talks with representatives of Ladakh as promised by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai during his visit to Leh on August 28 and 29, 2021.
“It seems the MHA isn’t interested in talks. In view of the rigid stand, we have been left with no option but to resume our agitation forcefully,” sources in the two bodies said, adding the LAB and KDA will meet shortly and decide future course of agitation but this time “we are going to take the agitation right up to block, tehsil and district levels”.
Charging the Central Government with adopting “delaying tactics”, sources within the LAB and KDA said Nityanand Rai during talks with them on August 29 in Leh had assured constitution of a high-level committee shortly for further dialogue but even after passage of nearly six and half months not even the Panel has been set up so far what to say of initiating the dialogue.
“This shows the Centre is adopting delaying tactics,” they said.
They clarified that the issues raised by them were not that of LAB or KDA alone but they pertained to the people of Ladakh and will be pursued vigorously.
While the people of Leh had welcomed the fulfillment of their long pending demand of the UT status and later formed the Apex Body in support of the demand for implementation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to safeguard their culture and identity, the KDA was not in the favour of the UT status and raised the demand of full Statehood to Ladakh.
However, on August 2, the ideologically different representatives of Kargil and Leh districts joined hands to seek full-fledged Statehood along with Constitutional safeguards for the region.
“The entire Ladakh region is united in support of our jointly chalked out four-point agenda… the Government of India has not shown seriousness to address the desire and demands of the people of Ladakh, prompting us to review our strategy and go for mass agitation,” sources said.
It may be mentioned here that the LAB and KDA had given call for bandh on August 29, 2021 during three days visit of Nityanand Rai to Leh as he hadn’t extended an invitation to the two bodies for talks and instead invited many other organizations for interaction. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah rang up Thupstan Chhewang that night and assured that both the bodies will be called for talks by Rai. The dialogue was held the next day with two bodies.
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