Ladakh: Local BJP Unit Joins Protests Against LG B.D. Mishra's ‘Administrative Failures'

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06-05-2025

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Ladakh: Local BJP Unit Joins Protests Against LG B.D. Mishra's 'Administrative Failures'
The Wire Staff
7 minutes ago
The Ladakh unit of the BJP issued a statement in support of the protestors, questioning the LG's capability to lead at his age.
B.D. Mishra taking oath as the governor of Meghalaya before Justice H.S. Thangkhiew on October 4. Photo: Twitter/@BrigMishra
New Delhi: At least three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representatives in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council have supported various trade unions that are protesting against the alleged highhandedness of lieutenant governor (LG) B.D. Mishra.
The fresh row between the LG and the trade unions have come at a time when the Union government is already grappling with anxieties in the adjoining Kashmir valley after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Joining the transport society's protests in Leh, district president of Leh, Stanzin Chosfel, district president of Changthang, Ishey Spalzang, and councillor Lobzang Sharab criticised LG's alleged administrative failures and accused him of not keeping the Union government in loop regarding a number of demands raised by the unions.
Repeating the demands made by the protesting transport unions, Sharab said, 'The Ladakh transport society was established in 1999. At that time, we went to Kargil and served the people of our country.We have also supported the people of our country during the Chinese aggression in 1962. After Ladakh was made a Union Territory, the people of Ladakh had high hopes. We thought that businesses will grow and we will make a good living.'
He alleged that the LG was giving preferential treatment to internet-based transport companies over locals who have invested a lot in building the transport society.
'It is very important for us to give preference to the locals. You should work in their favour,' Sharab said.
Spalzang told reporters that the LG has been acting against the interests of the people. '…You should not harass the local people. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council should always be with the people. As long as their demands are not fulfilled, the police should not take any action on (protesting) people,' he said.
'Mr. LG, you are the LG of Ladakh. You are not the LG of Delhi or any other state. If you are the LG of Ladakh, you should think about the interests of the people of Ladakh. I would like to ask you, how much shame would you like to hear? You are hearing 'shame shame' from the opposition,' he said.
'You [LG] are not giving confidence to the people of Ladakh. You are not giving confidence to the Hill Council,' he said.
Chosfel demanded the LG's resignation. 'You are 86-87 years old. I think you should resign. You should be a good listener, a strategist, an experienced person who can run the administration well,' said Chosfel.
'The genuine issue of Ladakh does not reach the Union government. You are trying to break the good environment here. You are forcing the police to come here [at the site of the protest] and are trying to mislead people, you are trying to set fire to Ladakh in the name of UT administration,' he said.
Chosfel said that the LG was being misled by big think tanks who 'think that they are intelligent' but were actually sidelining Ladakh's locals from getting a share in different upcoming businesses.
'We have to think good for these drivers, for local tourism, too. We have to walk together with locals,' Chosfel said.
In what may be embarrassing for the Modi government, the BJP unit of Ladakh, too, issued a statement in support of the protestors, questioning the LG's capability to lead at his age, and urged the Union government to appoint a more efficient administrator. 'Despite our sacrifices, we are being pushed into worsening conditions,' a party spokesperson told a regional news channel.
Protests against the UT administration have rocked Ladakh frequently since its separation from Jammu and Kashmir. Political activist Sajjad Kargili told The Wire that ever since Ladakh was made a UT, the sense of insecurity among people has been increasing.
'On 5th August 2019, without thinking, without any vision, without any planning, Union Territory status was imposed on Ladakh. Since then, till date, in Ladakh, we see that there is no democracy, there is no safeguard of land, there is no safeguard for the protection of our environment. There is a sense of insecurity among the people. Unemployed youths are in a state of distress. The move has not been able to provide a single post to a single Ladakhi,' he alleged.
'The scale of this sense of insecurity has gone so far that even the local leaders of the BJP are agitating and criticising the Union Territory administration. This should be taken seriously by the UTA administration and the Union government. The failed idea of Union Territory should be brought back and Ladakh should be given the status of statehood and safeguard,' he said.
He said that only road development work has taken place over the last few years, but nothing that can enhance people's living conditions has improved. 'Today, when we look towards Ladakh, there is no full-fledged university, there is no medical college, there is no agricultural university, there is no research centre. Ladakh has been pushed towards darkness. We do not have an assembly to elect our government. Our assembly was taken away from us. Before August 5, 2019, when we were with Jammu and Kashmir, we had MLAs and MLCs,' he said.
Kargil said that they did not want to keep protesting, and would rather want to be 'happy and peaceful'.
'But the Union Government should take these issues very seriously and remove the resentment of the people of Ladakh. Otherwise, we see that there is a sense of alienation and disenfranchisement of the people of Ladakh. I feel that this is neither good for the people of Ladakh nor for the country,' he added.
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