On the 10th day of his “Delhi Chalo Padyatra”, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk shared videos on social media after crossing Taglang La, one of the highest mountain passes in the world at 17,482 feet. A clip showed him leading a foot march with tribal indigenous people from Leh to Delhi, trekking through snowy mountains and winding rivers. Displaying the peeling skin on his feet, Wangchuk addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the citizens of the country, saying, “These blisters are a plea to honour your promises.”
Wangchuk was referring to the ruling BJP’s commitment to grant Ladakh constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule, first made during the 2019 Lok Sabha election and later during the 2020 Hill Development Council elections after the region was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made into a Centrally ruled Union Territory without a legislature. He quoted this following couplet from a famous Urdu ghazal written by Parwaz Jalandhari:
Jin ke honton pe hansi paanv mein chhale honge,
haan vahi log tumhein chahne vaale honge!
(Those who have a smile on their lips and blisters on their feet—yes, those people will be your admirers.)
On September 30 evening, he was detained at the Haryana-Delhi border along with his 150 companions amid heavy security bandobast. The detentions came in the wake of the Delhi police commissioner’s order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (formerly Section 144 of CrPC). One of the reasons cited in the order referred to the Assembly election in Haryana. Ironically, the detentions coincide with the 15th reprieve granted to godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the last four years since his conviction for rape and murder.
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Meanwhile, Ladakh MP Haji Hanifa, who had gone to Singhu border to meet the marchers, has also been detained.
Shut down in Ladakh
Wangchuk, backed by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), two representative organisations from Ladakh, had set out on the foot march on September 1. It was scheduled to culminate at Rajghat on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2.
Reacting to the detentions, Ladakh erupted in protest and observed a complete shutdown on October 1. A number of people took to the streets in Leh and Kargil as they raised slogans against the Delhi Police action. “It is a blatant violation of our fundamental rights. It is an affront not only on democratic rights but also to the dignity of the people of Ladakh,” the KDA said in a statement.
The LAB has expressed shock over the police action, vowing to intensify their struggle for Ladakh’s constitutional and environmental rights.
The LAB and KDA have been spearheading an agitation for the past four years to demand statehood for Ladakh along with constitutional safeguards, a public service commission and separate Lok Sabha seats for the Leh and Kargil regions. “My motivation for joining the movement is rooted in environmental concerns. The fragile hills and mountains of Ladakh could be exposed to unchecked industrial and mining interests,” Wangchuk told Frontline during an interview, days before he undertook the long march. Earlier this year, he had held a 21-day hunger strike raising these demands.
Detainees go on fast
At present, the detainees have been lodged in three different police stations at Delhi’s Bawana, Narela Industrial Area and Rohini. On October 1, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi said she wasn’t allowed to meet Wangchuk at Bawana police station.
“What is extremely painful is not the wounds we sustained while marching toward Delhi, but the way the central government responded to our peaceful demonstration with its full might,” an aide of Wangchuk told Frontline over the phone from Bawana police station.
He also complained about the “unhygienic place” where they were detained. “The floor was littered with pigeon poop and dust. In the morning, we cleaned the floor on our own,” he said, adding that Wangchuk was separated from the others at Bawana police station and wasn’t allowed to meet his lawyers.
Frontline managed to speak to detainees in two other police stations as well. Agitated over the police action, they have launched an indefinite fast. They said that the office of Wangchuk in Leh had emailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking an appointment but to no avail.
A woman marcher, who has been detained in Rohini, said 19 women were held there.
“Many elderly men and women in their 80s and a few dozen Army veterans… Our fate is unknown. We were on a most peaceful march to Bapu’s Samadhi… in the largest democracy in the world, the mother of democracy…,” Wangchuk wrote on X minutes before he was detained at Singhu border and his phone confiscated.
Sajjad Kargili, a member of the KDA who too has been detained, wrote on X: “We are frontline warriors, not traitors. We are simply demanding the rights you have taken from us—our statehood, safeguards, and employment. Now, even our right to protest is being stripped away.”
Controversial order
Several organisations, including the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Campaign Against State Repression, criticised the “arbitrary” prohibitory order issued by the Delhi police for six days. In a statement, the PUCL has urged Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to revoke the order banning “the constitutionally guaranteed right to assembly.”
In a joint statement, PUCL national president Kavita Srivastava and general secretary V Suresh asked the Commissioner to stop the “misuse of powers” under Section 163 of BNSS to silence dissent and democratic expression.
“On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, declared as the International Day of Non-violence, this action of the Delhi police and the government against peaceful protesters and satyagrahis signals to the increasing dangers involved in public action and advocacy,” the statement said. “It is not only a violation of constitutional freedoms under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, but an undermining of our democracy and curb on public participation of active citizenry, which cannot be allowed”.
Political outrage
The police action has evoked sharp reactions from political parties. Stressing that the Modi government didn’t keep the promises made to the people of Ladakh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abduallh said, “A government that couldn’t stop the Chinese incursion instead stops its own citizens from peacefully entering their national capital city.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the detentions as “unacceptable”. Posting on social media platform X, he wrote: “Modi ji, like with the farmers, this ‘Chakravyuh’ will be broken, and so will your arrogance. You will have to listen to Ladakh’s voice.”
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Wondering if Delhi was a “dictator’s fortress where common people couldn’t enter,” Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “Such undemocratic actions are totally unacceptable in a democracy.” In response to a tweet put out by Sonam Wangchuk, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “Everyone has the right to come to the national capital.”
Petitions filed
On October 1, at least two petitions were filed in the Delhi High Court seeking the release of Wangchuk and his supporters without delay. According to legal news website Live Law, the petition seeks permission to allow the group of individuals, including senior citizens led by Wangchuk, to enter the national capital for raising their demands peacefully. The pleas are likely to be heard on October 3.
Terming their detentions “illegal”, a detainee said: “The 24-hour period is already over. They cannot keep us further without producing [us] before a magistrate.” He elaborated, “Some groups were released for a bit but they were detained again after a few minutes. At some places people were taken in a bus and after a few rounds were brought back to the same place.”
Another aide of Wangchuk stated in a message: “Today, October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, we had intended to visit Rajghat to pay our respects. Instead, we find our rights trampled upon on a day that symbolises peace and democracy.”
As the padyatris lodged in different police stations complain about the Modi government’s overreach and the ruling BJP’s radio silence, one is reminded of the last couplet in Parwaz Jalandhari’s ghazal:
Ham bade naaz se aae the teri mahfil mein,
kya ḳhabar thi lab-e-izhaar pe taale honge
(We came to your assembly with great pride, Who thought you would put a lock on our lips.)
