- Sonia Gandhi supported activist Sonam Wangchuk’s ongoing Ladakh hunger strike.
- She recalled Indira Gandhi’s 1984 intervention with Wangchuk’s protesting father.
- Father and son both used hunger strikes for Ladakh’s demands.
Sonam Wangchuk hunger strike: Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi has extended support to climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s ongoing hunger strike, while recalling a little-known chapter from Ladakh’s political history involving former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Wangchuk’s father.
According to Congress sources, Sonia Gandhi told party leaders during a CPP meeting ahead of the Monsoon Session that Indira Gandhi had travelled to Leh in 1984 to persuade Sonam Wangyal, Wangchuk’s father, to end his hunger strike demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Ladakh, as per reports. The account surfaced as the Congress deliberated whether to formally support Wangchuk’s ongoing agitation. Sources said Sonia Gandhi favoured backing the movement despite reservations expressed by some party leaders.
Following her intervention, Congress leader Pawan Khera visited Wangchuk at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, urging him to end his fast while assuring him of the party’s support.
Father And Son, Four Decades Apart, Chose The Same Form Of Protest
Sonia Gandhi’s remarks have highlighted an unusual political parallel between two generations of the Wangchuk family. In 1984, Sonam Wangyal, a former Congress MLA, undertook a hunger strike seeking Scheduled Tribe status for Ladakh. More than four decades later, his son Sonam Wangchuk has adopted the same Gandhian method of protest, though for a different cause.
While Wangyal’s agitation centred on constitutional recognition for Ladakh’s people, Wangchuk has become the face of a movement demanding reforms to India’s education system while continuing to advocate for environmental protection and constitutional safeguards for Ladakh.
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Why The 1984 Protest Was Significant
The demand raised by Sonam Wangyal reflected long-standing aspirations among Ladakh’s Buddhist and Muslim communities for Scheduled Tribe status.
Leaders in the region argued that Ladakh’s difficult terrain, harsh climate and limited economic opportunities justified the same constitutional protections available to tribal communities in other mountainous and remote parts of India.
Indira Gandhi’s visit reportedly helped bring Wangyal’s fast to an end, but the demand itself was not immediately fulfilled.
At the time, Ladakh also held strategic importance for the Centre in the aftermath of the 1971 war, while its distinct cultural and geographical identity continued to shape political discussions within the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Congress Highlights Its Ladakh Record
Congress has also sought to draw attention to the policies pursued during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure.
Between 2004 and 2014, the UPA government continued discussions with Ladakhi political groups through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, which had been established to provide local self-governance in Leh and Kargil without altering the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, organisations including the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) continued to demand Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh, arguing that it would provide stronger constitutional safeguards for the region’s tribal communities.
The demand remained unresolved during the UPA years.
