New Delhi, Sept 30: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “betraying” the people of Ladakh and demanded an impartial judicial probe into the police firing that killed four protesters last week, including a Kargil War veteran.
Among those killed in the September 24 firing was Tsewang Tharchin, who had served at the Siachen Glacier and fought in the 1999 Kargil War. His father too was a soldier in the Indian Army.
Sharing a video of Tharchin’s father on X from his ongoing South America tour, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha wrote: “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. The pain-filled eyes of his father ask one question – is this the reward for serving the nation today?”
Gandhi demanded the “harshest punishment” for those responsible. “Modi ji, you have betrayed the people of Ladakh. They are demanding their rights. Communicate with them – stop the politics of violence and fear,” he said.
The Congress also expressed outrage over Tharchin’s killing, with party general secretary Jairam Ramesh noting that the ex-serviceman was protesting peacefully for Sixth Schedule safeguards for Ladakh when he was shot dead. “It should be a matter of the deepest anguish and outrage that he was killed along with three others in the firing on the agitationists,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
The September 24 protests in Leh, called to press for statehood and constitutional safeguards, turned violent, leaving four people dead and scores injured as demonstrators clashed with police and CRPF personnel. A local BJP office was set on fire during the unrest.
Two days later, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, the face of the agitation, was detained under the National Security Act and lodged in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur jail.
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