Chewang Dorjay, one of the two senior-most Buddhist leaders in Ladakh, said the region might be willing to step back from the core demand of statehood if the Centre granted them a legislature along with Sixth Schedule status, marking a striking departure from the hardline that has defined Ladakh’s political stance in recent years.
Speaking to The Telegraph at his office here, Dorjay, however, added that it was his personal opinion and statehood remained the ultimate goal — to be pursued in the next phase.
He said the final call on all issues would be jointly taken by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Development Alliance (KDA), which are spearheading the campaign for statehood and Sixth Schedule status in Leh and Kargil, respectively.
The senior Ladakhi leader also acknowledged that Article 370 provided the necessary safeguards for the local population, although the region’s Buddhists had cheered its scrapping in 2019. He, however, opposed the reintegration of Ladakh with Jammu and Kashmir under a restored Article 370, saying the region’s Buddhists are against it.
Dorjay’s remarks suggested a willingness to break the ongoing impasse, but he was firm that the talks process could resume only after the Centre agreed to meet the conditions, which include ordering a judicial inquiry into the death of four men and injuries to dozens of others in alleged firing by the security forces on September 24 during the biggest anti-government protest in the region in decades.
The Ladakhi leadership withdrew from talks following the deaths.
Dorjay and Thupstan Chhewang are the co-chairmen of the LAB. Dorjay is also the president of the influential Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA). Both were once key leaders of the BJP but quit the party to fight for the rights of the locals.
Citing the example of Jammu and Kashmir, Dorjay said the Union Territory had a legislature but it was weak. He said chief minister Omar Abdullah kept “crying there is no government” and regretted “they can do no work”.
“Still, we think this will be one step towards statehood. If the government conceded a UT with a legislature... ultimately there is nothing without statehood, as we see problems in Delhi, in Kashmir…. If we get Sixth Schedule status, perhaps a UT with a legislature might be accepted. But it is my personal opinion and not the (stand) of the apex body,” he said.
“(In addition to the Sixth Schedule), UT with a legislature will perhaps work, for the time being,” he added.
Dorjay said the KDA and the LAB reserved the right to decide whether they would step back from the demand for statehood.
“If we get Sixth Schedule status, statehood is conditional. For the time being, UT with legislature will work,” he said, citing the example of Himachal Pradesh, which he said was a UT before becoming a state.
The Ladakhi leader said their primary goal remained safeguards for land, jobs and culture, and Sixth Schedule status was the best mechanism to ensure that.
Dorjay acknowledged that Ladakh was safe under Article 370. “Our land and our jobs (were safe). We will have to accept it. It is a fact,” he said.
On why the Buddhists had cheered its revocation in 2019, Dorjay said they wanted separation from Jammu and Kashmir and it was impossible to get it under Article 370.
Chewang Dorjay at his office in Leh. Muzaffar Raina
“That is why we did not resent the scrapping of Article 370. In addition to that, we got UT status,” he added.
Dorjay said they would continue to fight for their rights and would have to be patient in their struggle. Violence is not a way out, he stressed.
The LBA leader claimed the September 24 firing was intentional and was aimed at crushing them. He said the Centre was delaying the talks to wear down the fasting protesters led by Sonam Wangchuk. Anger coursed through Leh on the evening of September 23 after the condition of two protesters deteriorated, he said, adding that a large crowd of 5,000 turned up at the protest site.
“Nobody thought they (forces) would open indiscriminate fire without any warning. Those who died were hit in the chest or head. Among the injured, there are a few who were shot in the legs. But most were shot above the waist. It appears that the intention of the government was to crush us. The CRPF was brought in recently. They were not here,” he said.
Dorjay claimed the Ladakhi magistrates were now under a lot of pressure to sign papers showing that they had ordered the firing. “It is perhaps impossible now to coerce them into signing,” he said.
He appeared to blame DGP S.D. Singh Jamwal for ordering the firing, saying it happened at three places only after his personal vehicle came under attack from the mob.
“LG (Kavinder Gupta’s) claim that they (protesters) would have burnt the whole of Ladakh if there was no firing is absolutely wrong. If the protesters had to attack, there were many targets (for them). Their anger was directed only at the BJP office and hill development council,” he added.
Dorjay rubbished the police’s claims that Wangchuk became a suspect for visiting Pakistan once. “If that was so, I visited Pakistan and China twice each,” he said.
The Buddhist leader said they would keep their struggle peaceful as “much as possible”.
“Violence, as you could see, did not help. We will continue our peaceful agitation,” he added.