Leh: After facing rejection for staging a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk and other volunteers from the Delhi Chalo Pad Yatra are continuing their fast for a second day at Ladakh Bhawan in Delhi.
Sonam Wangchuk in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat said, "Our fast will last till we get either an appointment with one of the top leaders which will be about reassurance on resuming the talks or we get an assurance or a letter resuming the talks. But we would like to see that this time the talks are chaired by either the Home Minister or Prime Minister because earlier the talks have gone in circles because it was not headed by the Home Minister."
"Therefore, we would expect that either we get to meet the Prime Minister or at least the Home Minister to chair the first meeting of the talks when it resumes. On that assurance we will be happily ending our fast otherwise we are here till we get such an assurance," Wangchuk added.
In response to a letter to the coordinator Leh Apex Body, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Anyesh Roy wrote, "It is to inform you that your request letters to hold demonstration/Anshan at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on Oct 5, 2024, and Oct 6, 2024, have been received in this office at a very short notice. Further, in your letter, no specific time of start and conclusion of the event or expected gathering has been mentioned. The guidelines require that applications for holding any demonstration at Jantar Mantar shall be moved at least 10 days prior to the planned event. The guidelines also require that the duration of the planned event shall be between 10 AM to 5 PM of planned event's date."
The letter also reads, "This has also been mentioned in your application that this anshan has been planned when the expected meeting with the top leadership has not materialised. It is quite clear that this proposed anshan is going to be a prolonged one. There is no provision under the extant laws, rules and guidelines under which permission can be granted for any kind of 'anshan', let alone an open-ended, without timeframe, mass event, as is discernible from the application."
ETV Bharat interviewed Chering Dorje Lakrook, who is the vice president of Leh Apex Body about the developments in this regard. He said, “The Apex Body has written a letter asking permission to continue the hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to which they refused. As section 163 is imposed, they gave them the permission to sit on a hunger strike only during the day-time. The hunger strike is for 28 days and if the government responds to it then they will end the hunger strike. They have promised that they will call us to resume the talks on the four-point agenda within 15 days but there was no definite date given to us. Two-three days have already passed and we are waiting for the government's response.”
Jigmet Paljor, Coordinator, Leh Apex Body and Padyatra Coordinator says, "Around 20-25 people are on hunger strike at Ladakh Bhawan in Delhi. We started the hunger strike while we were in detention. We kept two conditions before the government while releasing, one was to give permission to go Rajghat to pay homage to Gandhiji (Mahatma Gandhi) on October 2 and to resume talks on the 4-point agenda with the Prime Minister, President and Home Minister or give us a date for the appointment."
"We ended our fast at Rajghat in the hope that the government would provide us with a date to resume the talks. But unfortunately, they have not given any date as promised which was till October 5. We are forced to continue the hunger strike that too at Ladakh Bhavan as we were not given the permission for other places in Delhi. Though volunteers are fine except for some problems related to heat and dehydration, we are entering into the second day. These are the same people who participated in the month-long Delhi Chalo Padyatra," Paljor said.
Jigmet Paljor added, “We are hoping that soon the government will provide us a place where people or supporters can come, talk and join easily. Secondly, at least they should provide us with a date for the appointment with the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister to resume the talks. We have already conveyed our demands through the officials of the Home Ministry and as promised we have stayed on this condition. We are continuing our fast till we get the appointment of the top leadership and resume the talks.”
Sonam Wangchuk wrote on his social media, “We have finally decided to start our fast here at Ladakh Bhavan New Delhi where I was virtually detained for the last 4 days. Among us we have 75-year-old, women and men who walked for 32 days from Leh to Delhi roughly 1000 km.”
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