Srinagar, March 26: The engineer turned educationist from Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk on Tuesday ended his 21-day hunger strike. The activist had gone on what he called a ‘Climate Fast’ to pressure the central government in restoring the statehood for the hilly region and to draft a policy to protect fragile Himalayan ecology.
“END 21st Day OF MY #CLIMATEFAST. I’ll be back… 7000 people gathered today.
It was the end of the 1st leg of my fast. Btw 21 days was the longest fast Gandhi ji kept,” Wangchuk wrote on his official X handle.
He said, that his mission will be taken forward by a women’s group of Ladakh who will be on a hunger strike for 10-days, starting from tomorrow.
“From tomorrow women’s groups of Ladakh will take it forward with a 10 Days fast, then the youth, then the monks from monasteries… then me again n so on. The journey has only started,” he wrote.
After women, he said the youth of Ladakh would start the hunger strike and after that the Buddhist monks will take on further and after them, the old age people will keep the fast.
Speaking to media while sitting on his place of protest, Wangchuk said, “today was a beautiful day as people from all the religions were here, and you still see there are around 6000-people here, gathered in support of our demands,” appearing fragile, he said in a frail voice.
However, he said he believed that the people of Ladakh won’t need to continue this protest as sooner or later the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his deputy Home Minister Amit Shah would take note of their demands.
END 21st Day OF MY #CLIMATEFAST
I’ll be back…
7000 people gathered today.
It was the end of the 1st leg of my fast. Btw 21 days was the longest fast Gandhi ji kept.
From tomorrow women’s groups of Ladakh will take it forward with a 10 Days fast, then the youth, then the… pic.twitter.com/pozNiuPvyS— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) March 26, 2024
“But we still hope n trust we won’t have to do all this. Sooner rather than later a sense of responsible leadership will arise in @narendramodiji n @AmitShahji,” he wrote.