Leh: Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk on Thursday firmly denied the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegations that the ongoing agitation for statehood and Sixth Schedule status was being “fuelled” by the Congress, while also accusing the Centre of targeting him with a “series of witch-hunts” after violent protests in Leh this week.
The controversy erupted after BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya accused Congress councillor Phuntsog Stanzin Tsepag of “instigating” protestors who stormed the BJP office in Leh on Wednesday. Sharing images on X, Malviya said the unrest was being stoked by the Congress. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also blamed Rahul Gandhi for “playing with fire.”
Wangchuk dismissed the charges as baseless, stressing that the movement was “apolitical.”
“A few weeks ago, the Congress Party was removed from our Apex Body so that it can remain non-partisan until elections. So you can understand this movement has nothing to do with Congress,” Wangchuk told ANI.
He alleged that BJP leaders had circulated a misleading picture, wrongly identifying a protestor as a Congress councillor. “Now the police are harassing his family. If this was done to defame Congress, then they should apologise to the country,” he said.
On Thursday, Wangchuk also reacted to the Union Home Ministry and CBI action against his Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL).
The ministry accused him of misleading people, rejecting dialogue with the High-Powered Committee, and making provocative references to “Arab Spring-style protests.” It also cancelled SECMOL’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence, citing violations including a ₹3.5 lakh deposit into the FCRA account in 2021–22.
Wangchuk, however, denied any wrongdoing, insisting that his institute had never sought foreign donations.
“We did not get FCRA because we don’t want funds from abroad. What we received were fees for services — sharing our knowledge on passive solar buildings with the UN for Afghanistan, and artificial glaciers with Swiss and Italian organisations. These were taxed payments, not donations,” he clarified.
He alleged that income tax summons and the CBI probe were part of a larger campaign to “pin all blame” on him. “Yesterday’s events were the last in a series of witch-hunts. All blame was put on Sonam Wangchuk,” he said.
The protests in Leh turned violent on Wednesday, with clashes between demonstrators and police leaving several injured and the BJP office damaged. The agitation — led jointly by the Apex Body Leh and Kargil Democratic Alliance — has been demanding statehood for Ladakh and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule to safeguard land, culture, and jobs.
The Congress, too, hit out at the BJP government, with spokesperson Pawan Khera terming the unrest “a crisis of the BJP’s own creation.” He said Ladakh’s demands were “legitimate and just” and called for “compassion and statesmanship” instead of scapegoating.
