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A fragile land, a broken promise: The crisis that has pushed Ladakh to the edge

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28th September, 2025 09:58 IST

The despair and uncertainty that Ladakh is experiencing today cannot be attributed solely to the failures of the central government.

The long-standing wisdom of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has also played a decisive role.

Over the past 11 years, intellectual formulations devised by RSS thinkers — debated in their meetings and propagated through their platforms — have been implemented blindly and aggressively, often without regard for ground realities. Instead of offering solutions, these experiments have created a host of new problems, with Ladakh serving as just one striking example.

At the heart of the RSS’s approach lies the belief that complex national challenges can be resolved through simplistic remedies. For more than a decade, these supposed ‘magic wand’ solutions have been applied repeatedly, producing far-reaching consequences.

Consider demonetisation: RSS ideologues long argued that eradicating high-denomination currency notes would wipe out black money and weaken terrorism. This was touted as a one-step cure-all. Acting on this conviction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the sudden demonetisation of large banknotes in 2016. Far from eliminating black money, the move instead crippled the economy, forcing countless small and medium businesses to shut down — many of which have never recovered.

But don’t forget demonetisation

A similar ideological fixation shaped the fate of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

For decades, RSS forums, shakhas and publications portrayed Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution as the root cause of the Kashmir issue. This refrain was repeated so relentlessly that it transformed into an obsession. In 2019, this obsession culminated in the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A — an act carried out with little regard for the aspirations and sentiments of the people most directly affected in the region.

Six years on, the Kashmir issue remains unresolved. Neither Jammu nor Kashmir is content with the current state of affairs. And now, the rising unrest in Ladakh has revealed how perilous ideological rigidity can be — not just for the region but for the nation as a whole.

Ironically, the people of Ladakh themselves long shared the misconception that Article 370 was the root of their difficulties. Whenever the demand for its removal was raised, they lent their voices in agreement. Among them was Sonam Wangchuk, the celebrated mechanical engineer-turned-environmental activist, internationally recognised for his innovations. For a time, Wangchuk was even seen as a strong admirer of Narendra Modi. Unsurprisingly, when Article 370 was revoked, he — like many Ladakhis — welcomed the move and even celebrated it.

EXCLUSIVE Sonam Wangchuk on eve of arrest: ‘They are going to book me under PSA’

Yet, while Ladakh rejoiced, neighbouring Kargil erupted in protest against the abrogation. By then, it had already been decided that both Leh and Kargil would be merged into a single union territory.

The years that followed brought only disappointment. The union territory status — once a long-cherished demand and the centrepiece of Ladakhi aspirations — proved to be hollow, offering none of the benefits that had been promised. For both the people of Ladakh and Sonam Wangchuk himself, it became a period of growing disillusionment.

A Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council was indeed set up, but it was left with neither real powers nor sufficient resources. Out of the Rs 6,000 crore earmarked for Ladakh in the Union budget, barely 9 per cent reaches the Council. The Kargil Hill Development Council faces the same constraints.

At the same time, unemployment in Ladakh has risen at an alarming pace — outstripping the national trend. Across India, 13.4 per cent of graduates remain unemployed; in Ladakh, the figure is nearly double at 26.5 per cent. The scale of the crisis became evident when the Hill Development Council recently announced 534 job vacancies. More than 50,000 young people applied — roughly 17 per cent of Ladakh’s total population.

Discontent deepened when news emerged of the central government’s plan to build the world’s largest solar power plant in the Changthang region.

Designed with a capacity of 13 gigawatts, the project would stretch across several kilometres. The contract went to an industrialist known for his proximity to the BJP leadership.

For the Changthang shepherds, who graze the animals that produce the world’s finest and most expensive wool — pashmina — the project threatened not just grazing lands but their very livelihood.

It was at this moment that many Ladakhis realised the true cost of losing Article 370. The Constitutional protections that once safeguarded their land and livelihoods were gone, while in return they had received little to nothing. The shock of the proposed solar plant, combined with the growing threats to Ladakh’s fragile ecology and distinctive culture, transformed local sentiment into a collective sense of betrayal and resistance.

In Ladakh, the BJP drives Buddhists to battle

Since then, the people of Ladakh — led by Sonam Wangchuk — have taken a defiant stand against the central government. Their protests have included hunger strikes and marches to Delhi, yet instead of engaging with their demands, the government has responded with repression.

Investigative agencies such as the CBI and the income tax department have been unleashed against them. At the same time, the BJP’s propaganda machinery has swung into action: its social media cells churn out fake news and conspiracy theories, seeking to tarnish the reputation of those once celebrated as patriots, now branded as traitors.

Must we all be a bhakt or anti-national, Sonam Wangchuk asks

In recent weeks, Wangchuk and several of his colleagues were on a hunger strike to press for Ladakh’s rights. On 22 September, he addressed a press conference, warning that many young people in the region were losing faith in Gandhian, non-violent methods of protest. They feared, he said, that peaceful resistance could achieve nothing.

Just two days later, his words proved prophetic. When angry young men set fire to the BJP office, police opened fire, killing four.

The government quickly laid the blame at Wangchuk’s door and arrested him. At the very moment when Ladakh needed his leadership most — when the call for non-violence was vital — its people were deprived of their voice of moderation, a leader who had sought solutions through peaceful means.

Ladakh erupts: Promises broken, sentiments ignored, a spark neglected

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