Leh's People's Movement to hold talks with MHA | Economic Times

Srinagar: The apex body of the People’s Movement for Sixth Schedule formed to demand implementation of constitutional guarantees in the newly formed Union Territory of Ladakh formed a 17-member committee to start formal deliberations with the central government.The conglomerate of religious, political and civil society groups in Leh, is expecting to meet union MoS Home G K Reddy later this month in which they would be handing over a draft proposal of their demands to the minister as well. The members of the committee among others include chief executive councilor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Leh) Tashi Gyalson, Lok Sabha member J T Namgyal, prominent innovator from Leh, Sonam Wangchuk and former Congress minister Rigzin Jora. “We have tried to take everybody on board and make a broader consensus regarding our demands. We have a senior legal luminary Vinodji from Jammu in our team as well…They are drafting a proposal of demands in Delhi,” said Chering Dorjay, a former BJP minister, who resigned from the party and is now part of the apex body of the movement for the sixth schedule. The PMISSL was formed in 2020 a year after the Narendra Modi led BJP government revoked special status of J&K on August 5, 2019 and downgraded the state into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. This unanimous move from the people of Leh challenged the BJP’s narrative of development and jubilance in the region in wake of the August 5, 2019 decisions. Last year, they also wrote to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that the people in Ladakh have come to realize that the UT has not been given enough to preserve its distinct social, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and environmental heritage. “Now we have been promised that our demands would be met soon and there will be no delay, but let us wait for what they have to offer. We expect a meeting this month,” said Dorjay. To push their demands of constitutional safeguards under sixth schedule, the PMISSL had also called for boycott of LAHDC (Leh) elections in 2020. They withdrew the boycott call when Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured them of addressing their demands within 15 days of the new LAHDC being formed. They were called to Delhi after LAHDC was formed, however, meetings got delayed as some members were suffering from Covid19. “Central government has acted promptly till now,” said Dorjay.The central government has also conveyed to the members of the conglomerate to decrease the number of committee members, which the latter said would happen only after the first meeting will take place. The PMISSL members, based in Leh, have also reached out to the leadership in Kargil--which has a separate hill council--to get them on board for support of their demands regarding implementation of sixth schedule. “They are demanding statehood for Ladakh…we told them that we would not oppose your demand of statehood and they agreed not to oppose our demand of the sixth schedule,” said Dorjay. He further said that the Home Ministry has informed them they were in touch with the leadership in Kargil as well, and a meeting in Delhi with them was on cards as well. This internal political upheaval in Leh has come at a time, when the BJP government in New Delhi is already engaged in a protracted faceoff with China in eastern Ladakh.