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Ladakh delegation to meet Amit Shah on Wednesday for 6th schedule
On December 21, Apex Body of People’s Movement (ABPM) decided to reach out to the opinion-makers in Leh and Kargil districts to press for the sixth schedule to the strategic Ladakh region.
An 11-member delegation led by former MPs Thiksay Rinpoche and Thupstan Chhewang will meet home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday to press their demand of getting constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule to the strategic Ladakh region.
“The home minister had to meet us today but the meeting has been deferred to Wednesday because of his busy schedule,” said Chhewang.
He said that the constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule will be discussed with the home minister.
“We are confident of getting it because the home minister had given us his commitment. In fact, he had invited us to meet him soon after elections to Leh Hill Development Council but we could not go to Delhi because of the Covid pandemic,” he said.
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“Delay happened on our end but we are now hopeful of a fruitful discussion. We are confident that the discussion will pave way for the constitutional safeguards to allay our fears,” said Chhewang.
Besides Rinpoche and Chhewang, other members of the delegation include former BJP minister Chering Dorjay, chief executive councillor of Leh Council, Tashi Gyalson, sitting BJP MP and Ladakh unit president Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
On December 21, Apex Body of People’s Movement (ABPM) decided to reach out to the opinion-makers in Leh and Kargil districts to press for the sixth schedule to the strategic Ladakh region.
Apex body of People’s Movement, an apolitical body which has former BJP MP Thupstan Chhewang, Dorjay, Thiksay monastery head Rinpoche Nawang Chamba Stanzin and former minister Nawang Rigzin Jora, has been demanding constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule of the Constitution to Ladakh on the lines of north-eastern states of having constitutional safeguards.
The umbrella group includes political parties and religious organizations and all-powerful Leh-based Ladakh Buddhist Association.
The safeguards also guarantee more teeth to the two hill development councils of Leh and Kargil with legislative powers.
It may be recalled here that Thupstan Chhewang, former BJP MP, had resigned from his post and primary membership of the party in November 2018 for not conferring UT status to Ladakh region and other promises made by the BJP in 2014 general elections.
Sixth schedule also guaranteed no settlement of outsiders in the strategic region. According to the 2011 Census, Ladakh has a population of 1,34,000, the majority of them being Buddhists.
