Activist Sonam Wangchuk joins hunger strike for Ladakh's statehood, Sixth Schedule status
Dorjay and Wangchuk arrived in Kargil on Sunday amidst widespread speculation that they would not be allowed to participate in the protest organised by the Kargil Development Authority (KDA) and might face arrest.
Kargil, Aug 10 (PTI) Several leaders of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), including co-chairman Chering Dorjay and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, joined the second day of the ongoing three-day hunger strike here in support of the demand of statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
He emphasised that their participation was meant to convey unity between the people of Kargil and Leh in their demand for statehood and necessary safeguards, opposing anyone attempting to divide the people of Ladakh.
'Criticism, rather than false praise, helps leaders improve. We believe in sincere criticism, and it should be understood in that spirit. If they are unkind and wish to arrest us and imprison us, we have no objections. I have lived my life for my country, and I am ready to die for it,' Wangchuk stated.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, the Magasaysay Award-winner said he wanted the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Kavinder Gupta, to know that the people of the region are not cowards but are peace-loving and believe in dialogue.
'We have always lived for our country, even sacrificing lives in past wars. My sincere request is not to misuse this relationship for the benefit of a few in the corporate sector,' Wangchuk noted, alleging widespread corruption at the bureaucratic level and claiming they possess data to expose it.
While en route to Kargil earlier in the day, Wangchuk posted a video on X, voicing his concerns over a solar power plant being set up in Ladakh.
'Two weeks ago, I questioned on my podcast how large sections of our land — approximately 40,000 acres — are being allocated to corporations for a massive solar plant endeavour. This installation will produce 13,000 megawatts, which is three times larger than the largest in the world,' he said.
In an apparent reference to industrialist Gautam Adani, Wangchuk indicated that the project is likely to go to the billionaire, which could impact the local community.
'While I cannot say for sure, experts in the field say this project is almost certainly going to Mr A, and the worst part is that this may lead to the significant displacement of thousands of shepherds who produce some of the world's most precious fibres, such as Pashmina,' the activist noted.
Wangchuk claimed that neither public representatives nor the local populace are aware of the land transfer details.
'The newly-appointed Lieutenant Governor appears to be a loyal supporter of the system and Mr A. Perhaps they will act on this rumour or conspiracy to arrest me. I want to make it clear that I would consider it an absolute honour and privilege to go to jail. I have followed in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi,' he said in the video.
At the venue of the hunger strike, the co-chairman of KDA, Asgar Ali Karbalai, along with other members, including Member of Parliament Mohammad Haneefa, warned of consequences if local authorities attempt to stop their guests from participating. The protest began on Saturday and will conclude on Monday evening.
Haneefa, who joined the protest on Saturday, said the people of Ladakh are peacefully agitating for their demands, and have been forced to go on a hunger strike due to the delaying tactics adopted by the Centre in scheduling fresh talks. PTI TAS TAS MPL MPL MPL MPL
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Wire
9 minutes ago
- The Wire
The Liberal International Order: From Wilsonian Internationalist Racism to Trump's Anti-Globalist Racism
Inderjeet Parmar By framing globalisation as detrimental to American workers, Trump cynically exploits domestic workers' discontent while preserving the core of U.S. elite power. US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. Photo: AP/PTI There is a widespread feeling and even considered view that US President Donald Trump is an aberration, an outlier, possibly crazy. He is seen by many as outside the American tradition, an exception within an exceptional national. But appearances are deceptive. The roots of Trumpism lie in the very American system and international order – rooted in the presidency of the liberal Woodrow Wilson in World War I – he claims to abhor. That's why under Trump, America is only recalibrating its attitude to that order, not rejecting it, and preparing to coercively confront the tides of change wherever they arise. There's a particularly moving scene in the movie Gandhi (1982). In it, an American journalist who witnesses British colonial violence against peaceful protestors, breathlessly phoned in to his news desk that, 'Whatever moral ascendancy the West once held was lost here today. India is free, for she has taken all that steel and cruelty can give and she has neither cringed nor retreated.' That West has changed in many ways – its stewardship passed from Britain to the United States. It evolved from direct colonialism to imperialism by another name (a liberal international order). But it remains violent and hierarchical. However, the liberal international order (LIO) and Western moral authority are (once again) withering away before the world's eyes. Nowhere more is this evident than in backing Israel's illegal war of genocidal terror in Gaza. But it is hardly the first time that the most modern weapons known to humankind have been turned onto peoples of the Global South. History is littered with millions of black and brown bodies. Despite that, the LIO is often heralded as a rules-based system promoting democracy, free markets, and global cooperation. But in practice it is, and always was, a widely contested construct – at home and internationally – rooted in the interplay of ideology, power, hierarchy and exclusion. Wilsonianism and Trumpism are but two complementary faces of American power that still leads the international system. Roots of Trumpism at the creation Its origins lie in the early 20th century, particularly in the vision of US President Woodrow Wilson, whose internationalism was deeply imbued with class and racial hierarchies. Wilson was considered a progressive intellectual. He went on to become President of Princeton University, elected Governor of New Jersey, before entering the White House in 1913 and serving two consecutive terms. A progressive liberal, Wilson carried out a sustained policy of racial re-segregation of the federal government. His administration demoted or fired thousands of Black federal workers. It racially segregated offices, restrooms, entrances to buildings, setting back Black rights and reversing gains after the American civil war (1861-65). Wilson's tenure could hardly have been otherwise given the founding principles of the United States, and the reconstruction of de facto and de jure racial hierarchies after the civil war. By 1896, the US Supreme Court had sealed the deal with its 'separate but equal' ruling in Plessey vs Ferguson that cemented the constitutionality of racial segregation that lasted for over six decades. Today, this hierarchical order is sustained, albeit in a transformed guise, through the anti-globalist rhetoric and policies of Trumpism. The liberal international order, built on Wilsonian racist internationalism, has been reconfigured by Trumpist anti-globalism which reinforces American hegemony through white-superiority driven nationalism and selective global engagement. The conclusion from this is bleak: the United States has turned its back on racial and gender equality, civil and workers' rights as it dismantles federal programmes. And it is evident that the US and its Western allies are not ready to accept that the world is moving towards multipolarity, and are willing to fight to maintain their dominance in world politics. Hence, western militarisation is intensifying in an era the US has declared as one marked by the 'return of geopolitical competition'. Prior to that era, the West had the field pretty much to themselves. That's called order. This is not history repeating itself first as tragedy and later as farce; it remains tragic, dangerous and deadly. It may be withering but the liberal international order and its American guarantor are far from dead. Wilsonian internationalism and its racial underpinnings Woodrow Wilson's vision for a new world order, articulated during and after World War I, laid the ideological and institutional foundations for the liberal international order. His 'Fourteen Points' and advocacy for the League of Nations promised self-determination, collective security, and global governance. However, Wilson's internationalism was not a universalist project but one steeped in classist (anti-communist), racial and civilizational hierarchies. Wilson's belief in Anglo-Saxon superiority and domestic policies – such as the resegregation of federal offices – reflected a worldview that prioritized white, Western dominance. Wilson's internationalism was inherently exclusionary. His concept of self-determination was selectively applied, largely reserved for European nations while denying colonised peoples in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean the same rights. The League of Nations, while ostensibly a global institution, was dominated by Western powers, with non-white nations marginalised or excluded. Japan's attempts to insert a racial equality clause into the League's charter was rejected, Pan-Africanists and other anti-colonialists, ignored. Wilson's vision aligned with the broader imperialist framework of the time, where the United States, as an emerging power, sought to reshape the world in its image – white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, capitalist. This racialised internationalism was not an aberration but a foundational feature of the liberal international order, embedding hierarchies of race and power into its institutions and norms. It continues to this day. The liberal international order, as it evolved through the 20th century, reflected and institutionalised these hierarchies. The creation of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods system (the IMF and World Bank), and NATO reflected American leadership but also perpetuated a system where Western dominance was normalised. These institutions, while promoting liberal values like free trade and 'democracy', served American strategic and economic interests, marginalising non-Western voices and reinforcing global inequalities. The Wilsonian legacy, therefore, was not merely the spread of liberal ideals but the construction of a global order that upheld American hegemony under the guise of universalism. Trumpism and the anti-globalist turn The election of Donald Trump in 2016 marked a seeming rupture in the liberal international order. Trump's 'America First' doctrine, with its rejection of multilateralism, disdain for international institutions, and emphasis on national sovereignty, appeared to challenge the very foundations of the order Wilson helped establish. His withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, and his criticism of NATO and the World Trade Organisation signalled a retreat from global leadership. Yet, a closer examination reveals that Trumpist anti-globalism does not dismantle the liberal international order but reconfigures it to serve American interests in a new geopolitical and geoeconomic context. Trump's anti-globalism is less a rejection of American hegemony than a reassertion of it through nationalist means. His policies have imposed tariffs on China, the EU, UK, Israel, among others, and weaponised all aspects of US power. They reflect a desire to maintain American economic dominance in an era of multiple rising and competing powers, not just China. By framing globalisation as detrimental to American workers, Trump cynically exploits domestic workers' discontent while preserving the core of U.S. elite power: its ability to shape and profit from global economic and security arrangements. His administration's focus on 'fair trade' and 'energy dominance' ensures that the United States remains a central player in global markets, even as it eschews multilateral frameworks. Moreover, Trump's foreign policy retains key elements of the liberal international order, particularly its militarised and hierarchical nature. His administrations increased defence spending, strengthened alliances with authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia, and maintained U.S. military presence in strategic regions. The 'Indo-Pacific strategy' aimed at countering China's rise is a continuation of (Obama-era) efforts to contain rival powers, a hallmark of the liberal international order since its inception. Thus, Trumpism's anti-globalist rhetoric masks a deeper continuity: the preservation of American primacy through selective weaponised engagement with the world. The paradox of continuity and change The transition from Wilsonian internationalism to Trumpist anti-globalism reveals a paradoxical dynamic, maybe even a secret, at the heart of the liberal international order: its adaptability to different ideological guises while maintaining American dominance. Wilson's vision, rooted in racial hierarchies, established a system where liberal ideals were selectively applied to serve U.S. interests. Trump's anti-globalism, while rhetorically opposed to Wilson's multilateralism, reinforces this system by prioritising American sovereignty and economic power. Recall that it was Wilson who first used 'America First' as his clarion call in World War I. Both Wilson's and Trump's approaches, though seemingly divergent, share a common thread: the use of ideology to legitimise American hegemony. America First, Forever. This continuity is evident in the role of elites in shaping both eras. Wilson's internationalism was driven by a cosmopolitan elite—academics, policymakers, and business leaders—who saw American leadership as essential to global stability. Trump's anti-globalism, while populist in tone, was similarly supported by a coalition of corporate elites, military-industrial interests, and nationalist ideologues who benefited from tax cuts and deregulation. My own research on American power emphasises the role of elite networks in sustaining hegemony, and Trump's era is no exception. The liberal international order, whether under Wilson's idealist garb or Trump's shrill nationalism, remains a project of elite power, adapting to domestic and global shifts while preserving U.S. dominance. Conclusion: A resilient but contested order The liberal international order, built on Wilson's (and the West's) racially-charged internationalism, has proven remarkably resilient, adapting to the challenges of Trumpist anti-globalism. While Wilson's vision embedded racial and civilisational hierarchies into the global system, Trump's policies have reoriented it toward overt nationalism without dismantling its core structures. Both approaches, in their own way, uphold American hegemony, revealing the order's flexibility in accommodating ideological shifts while maintaining power hierarchies. Yet, this resilience comes at a cost. The liberal international order faces growing challenges from rising powers, domestic discontent, and demands for greater inclusivity. The racial underpinnings of Wilson's vision continue to haunt the order, as marginalised nations and peoples question its legitimacy. Similarly, Trump's anti-globalism, while appealing to some domestic audiences, risks alienating allies and undermining the multilateral frameworks that have sustained American power. Understanding the liberal international order requires recognising its contradictions: a system that promotes universal values while perpetuating exclusion and domination. Its future depends not on ideological purity but on its ability to navigate the tensions between global ambition, nationalist retrenchment, domestic resistance, and increasing multipolarity in world politics and economy—challenges that Wilson's heirs and Trump's successors must confront. And they believe in and are preparing for massive and sustained coercive confrontation, everywhere. Inderjeet Parmar is a professor of international politics and associate dean of research in the School of Policy and Global Affairs at City St George's, University of London, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a columnist at The Wire. He is an International Fellow at the ROADS Initiative think tank, Islamabad, and author of several books including Foundations of the American Century. He is currently writing a book on the history, politics, and powers of the US foreign policy establishment. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Advertisement
News18
18 minutes ago
- News18
26/11 Mumbai attack: Delhi court allows Tahawwur Rana 3 phone calls with kin
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana to have three phone calls this month with his brother to discuss engaging a private counsel, court sources said. Special judge Chander Jit Singh also extended the judicial custody of Rana till September 8 after the accused appeared virtually, they added. According to the sources, the judge during the in-chamber proceeding said the phone calls by Rana will be recorded and the conversations will have to be in English or Hindi in the presence of prison authorities. Legal aid counsel Piyush Sachdeva was stated to have sought time from the court to scrutinise certain documents in the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet. Rana is allegedly a close associate of 26/11 main conspirator David Coleman Headley, alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen. He was brought to India after the US Supreme Court on April 4 dismissed his review plea against his extradition to India. On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage, carrying out attacks on a railway station, two luxury hotels, and a Jewish centre, sneaking into India's financial capital through the sea route. A total of 166 people were killed in the assault that lasted for nearly 60 hours. PTI MNR AMK AMK (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: August 13, 2025, 17:15 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
News18
19 minutes ago
- News18
HUDCO organises Har Ghar Tiranga celebrations
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), a Navratna NBFC-IFC under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, organised a two-day programme at the India Habitat Centre here as part of the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign being observed across the country from August 2-15. According to a statement, the event was inaugurated by Ministry Secretary Srinivas Katikithala in presence of HUDCO Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Kulshrestha, officials of the ministry, the corporation and other offices located at the venue. Katikithala urged people to actively take part in the campaign and hoist the national flag at their homes, calling the Tiranga a symbol of freedom, identity, unity, and honour. Kulshrestha said the celebrations were a reminder of the nation's shared heritage and aspirations. HUDCO plans to distribute over 10,000 flags through the kiosk at the centre and its regional offices across the country, he added. view comments First Published: August 13, 2025, 17:15 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
