Sonam Wangchuk, the green energy innovator and educationist, was arrested on Friday while on his way to hold a media conference in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. Several Indian media outlets reported that he was charged under the stringent National Security Act or NSA and shifted to Jodhpur in Rajasthan post-arrest.
The arrest came in the wake of violent protests that happened in Leh on September 24 and 25, which resulted in police firing that resulted in four deaths. About ninety other people were injured, including an unknown number of police personnel. Wangchuk was on a 21-day fast, demanding statehood for Ladakh under Schedule VI of the Constitution. After the violence, he suspended his agitation on the fifteenth day and appealed for peace. However, claims started surfacing without any attribution that his NGO was being investigated for FCRA violation. India’s federal home ministry accused Wangchuk of inciting the “mob violence” through his “provocative statements”. Wangchuk rejected the allegation and claimed that the union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was just building a case against him to lock him away from public life. Under the stringent law, people can be held under preventive detention for a minimum two years without bail or trial.
On Thursday, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation was reportedly investigating Wangchuk’s NGO for allegedly receiving foreign funding as well as his visit to Pakistan. This prompted many people from diverse fields, including politicians and political parties, to issue statements in his favour. Aam Aadmi Party members held a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against his arrest. Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal also expressed solidarity with the arrested climate activist in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Since 2019, Ladakh has been a Union Territory without a legislature since the state of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into two UTs following the watering down of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to J&K. Local platforms like the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) have pressed four core demands: full statehood for Ladakh, inclusion under the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule (to protect land, resources, and cultural rights via stronger autonomous district councils), creation of a Ladakh Public Service Commission, and reserved political representation. Since 2020, Wangchuk has been a visible face of this peaceful demand.
Wangchuk is a Magsaysay Award-winning activist on whose life the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots was made with Aamir Khan playing his character.