Leh burns, Wangchuk cornered: From Anshan to CBI probe, activist cries ‘witch-hunt’
Leh, Ladakh – The peaceful 14-day-long fast of Ladakh’s climate crusader Sonam Wangchuk ended in chaos after protests in Leh spiraled into violence, with government offices and vehicles set ablaze.
While Wangchuk appealed for calm, the Union Home Ministry the very next day issued a press release naming him and holding him responsible for the unrest.
On Friday, the activist hit back, calling the entire episode a “witch-hunt.” Speaking from Leh, Wangchuk revealed that his institute had now come under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged FCRA violations.
“I had received a notice about a CBI inquiry stating that our organisation received foreign funding even when it did not have FCRA.
But we never applied for FCRA because we don’t want foreign donations.
What we did get was fees – United Nations wanted to replicate our passive solar heated buildings in Afghanistan and paid us for it.
Swiss and Italian organisations also paid fees with tax for our expertise on artificial glaciers. How can that be foreign funding?” he asked.
The innovator behind the “ice stupas” claimed that even as he battled for Ladakh’s constitutional safeguards through his fast, authorities unleashed a barrage of notices on him – from I-T summons to now a CBI probe.
“In the series of witch-hunting, yesterday’s events were the last straw – and all the blame was pinned on Sonam Wangchuk,” he said.
What began as a non-violent stir for Ladakh’s statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards has thus ended on a disastrous note – with burnt cars, FIRs against protesters, and the activist himself facing the heat of central agencies.
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