Ideology and Incompetence

In Leh, when central forces opened fire on unarmed protesters demanding statehood and constitutional protections for Ladakh, on 24 September, they revealed the true face of the Narendra Modi regime: one that sees territory as an asset to be controlled but views the people who inhabit it as obstacles to be managed or eliminated. It exposed the dangerous convergence of ideological malevolence and administrative incompetence.

The protests had been building for years, ever since the Modi government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status in August 2019 and eventually bifurcated Ladakh into a separate union territory. What was sold as liberation from Article 370’s supposed constraints has proved to be calculated dispossession. The people of Ladakh lost not just autonomy but any meaningful say in their future. The region came to be governed directly from Delhi under Article 240, which grants sweeping powers to the president and, by extension, the union home ministry. The promises made by the BJP during and after the transition—inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, environmental safeguards and protection for land and jobs—have been repeatedly deferred despite multiple rounds of talks.

The violence in Ladakh represents more than a law-and-order problem or even a policy failure. It signals a fundamental crisis of legitimacy in how the Indian state relates to its diverse population. The protesters who were killed were not demanding secession from the Indian state or exemption from the Indian constitution. They were asking for constitutional rights long recognised for other tribal communities, for protection of their fragile environment, and for democratic representation in decisions affecting their lives.

These are not unreasonable demands. They are, in fact, demands that strengthen rather than weaken the Indian union by ensuring that all citizens can participate as equals in the democratic process. Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule, which Ladakhis have been seeking, was specifically designed to protect tribal communities while keeping them within the constitutional framework. Similar provisions exist for tribal areas in northeastern India and have helped maintain some stability and development in those regions. Such councils would give Ladakhis control over land revenue, natural resources and local governance, crucial protections for a fragile ecosystem facing pressure from unregulated tourism and military infrastructure projects.