New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) Amid Home Minister Amit Shah’s Ladakh visit, the Congress on Thursday questioned the government’s silence on critical demands of Ladakhis and asked the Centre to clarify its stance on providing statehood as well as protection under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh took a dig at Shah over his Ladakh visit, saying he has gone for a vacation after making the “Election Commission dance to his tunes during the assembly elections”.
“Home Minister Amit Shah is on a two-day tour to Ladakh. For the first time after 2019, the home minister is on a tour to Ladakh. It has been seven years since he went there. In the intervening period, there were mass protests, cases filed against 83 people, four Ladakhis shot dead and one Ladakhi civil society activist, Sonam Wangchuk, was arrested under NSA for six months,” Ramesh told reporters here.
“There were two districts in Ladakh — Leh and Kargil but now there has been a reconfiguration with seven districts the UT now having seven districts….You created a Union Territory but it effectively means Lieutenant Governor’s rule. Their (Ladakhis’) two demands are statehood with legislature and protection under the Sixth Schedule,” he said.
Under the Sixth Schedule, the local council has rights on land and local resources, Ramesh said.
The government is quiet on these two demands as well as the demand for having a Ladakh public service commission.
Also, there are autonomous hill development councils for Leh and Kargil but now with seven districts, will there be seven councils, he asked and said the government has given no clarification on this.
Asserting that Ladakh is one of the most important strategic regions for the country, Ramesh said the people there have been demanding a special category in the Constitution as has been given to states such as Nagaland, Assam and Manipur.
The home minister has not said anything on that, he added.
Earlier in the day, Shah arrived in Ladakh to attend the first-ever international exposition of holy relics of Lord Buddha in India, officials said.
During his two-day visit, Shah will pay respect to the sacred relics of Lord Buddha on the Buddha Purnima, which falls on Friday.
He will also lay the foundation stone for a 10 TLPD (thousand litres per day) capacity dairy plant in Kargil and attend other dairy-related programmes. PTI ASK ASK KSS KSS
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