‘Release Sonam Wangchuk’ echoes during marches across India
Leh: Voices demanding the release of renowned environmentalist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk grew louder across India as citizens, students, and rights groups held marches, candlelight vigils, and public meetings to express solidarity with the Ladakhi people and their peaceful struggle for rights, snatched after revocation of Articles 370 and 35A in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the protests, organised in several Indian cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Bareilly, Mumbai, and Chandigarh, saw participants chanting slogans such as “Release Sonam Wangchuk” and “Statehood for Ladakh now”, urging the Indian government to immediately release the detained activist from Jodhpur jail.
In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, hundreds joined the demonstration, carrying placards highlighting Ladakh’s demands and condemning New Delhi’s silence on Wangchuk’s arrest. In Bengaluru, citizens and members of rights organisations marched peacefully, calling Wangchuk’s arrest an attack on democratic values and the right to protest.
Speakers at various gatherings said that the crackdown on Wangchuk and Ladakh’s peaceful movement exposed the Modi regime’s double standards — celebrating “freedom” and “environmental protection” in speeches while criminalising genuine grassroots activism.
Social and environmental groups in India and abroad have also urged the government to heed Ladakh’s long-pending demands, stressing that protecting Ladakh’s fragile ecosystem and indigenous culture requires constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule.
Observers note that the mass support for Wangchuk’s release and the Ladakh movement has shattered the Modi government’s narrative of “peace and normalcy” in the region, revealing growing discontent over unfulfilled promises and environmental neglect.
