Rahul Gandhi Accuses PM Modi of Betraying Ladakh, Demands Judicial Probe into Protest Deaths
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “betraying” the people of Ladakh and called for an impartial judicial inquiry into the deaths of four protesters in police firing in the union territory.
Among the deceased was Kargil war veteran Tsewang Tharchin. Posting from his South America tour, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha shared a video of Tharchin’s father on X, saying: “Father in the army, son in the army – patriotism runs in their blood. Yet the BJP government shot and killed this brave son of the nation, simply because he stood up for Ladakh and his rights.” Gandhi added, “The father’s pain-filled eyes ask one question: is this the reward for serving the nation today?”
He demanded that those responsible be held accountable and urged the Prime Minister to end the “politics of violence and fear,” saying, “Modi ji, you have betrayed the people of Ladakh. They are demanding their rights. Communicate with them.”
The Congress had earlier expressed outrage over Tharchin’s death. Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh highlighted that Tharchin, a veteran of the Siachen Glacier and the 1999 Kargil War, was peacefully protesting for Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh. He noted that Tharchin’s father also served in the Indian Army and said, “It should be a matter of the deepest anguish and outrage that he was killed along with three others during the police firing five days ago.”
The protest on September 24, initially demanding statehood for Ladakh, turned violent when demonstrators set a local BJP office on fire and allegedly pelted stones at police and CRPF personnel, resulting in four deaths and multiple injuries.
On September 26, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act and lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.
