New Delhi: Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk Ends his 21-Day hunger strike to demand statehood of Ladakh and his inclusion in sixth schedule of the constitution, on Tuesday. Earlier Sonam Wangchuk made a fresh appeal to Prime minister Narendra Modi to fulfill promises made to people. In a post Sonam wrote “21st day of my #CLIMATEFEST, 350 people slept in -10°C.
5000 people in the day here. But still not a word from the government. We need statement of integrity , farsightedness & wisdom in this country ¬ the short-sighted characterless politicians. And I very hope that Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji, will soon prove that they are statement.
Sonam Wangchuk , an engineer and education reformer , began his protest on March 6, demanding statehood for Ladakh. His protest on March 6 was held at an altitude of 3,500 meters with sub zero temperature.
He has been highlighting the damage from industrialization to the region’s fragile ecology and the impact on the glaciers. One of his demand is the implementation of the sixth schedule to ensure land protection and autonomy of the tribal areas in Ladakh.
Gradually his protest is gathering support and media attention across the India. In last 20 days Wangchuk said, around 60,000 of Ladakh’s 3 lakhs residents have been participating in the hunger strike demonstrating their pain “but no words came from government”.
While ending his hunger strike Wangchuk on Tuesday said that it was not the end of the protest “this is the end of the first phase of the hunger strike, but it is not the end of the protest, it’s a new beginning”.