Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the people of Ladakh are not happy with the current status of the region and want representation. Gandhi, who is on a visit to six-day visit Ladakh, made the statement in Leh.
He said the people are unhappy with the status they have been granted after the abrogation of Article 370. Ladakh comprising Leh and Kargil districts was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made a union territory by the BJP on August 5, 2019.
"There have been numerous grievances. The residents are dissatisfied with their current status," Gandhi said. "They desire representation. There is widespread concern about unemployment and inflation. He said people demand governance and not to be controlled solely by the bureaucracy.
Rahul also highlighted the concerns of the people of Ladakh regarding the loss of their grazing land to China. "A significant concern revolves around the land that China has taken away," he said. "The local population has been severely impacted as their grazing land has been seized."
Rahul said there are widespread reports that Chinese troops have infiltrated and confiscated their grazing land, depriving access to people. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that China has not encroached on a single inch of Indian land was inaccurate.
The senior Congress leader will visit Kargil, given the polls for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council (LADHC) Kargil are due on September 10.
The Congress and the NC have decided to jointly fight the LADHC-K polls against the other parties, especially, the BJP.
During the 2018 polls, the NC won 10 seats and emerged as the single largest party in the LAHDC-K. It was followed by the Indian National Congress (INC) which won eight seats. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won two seats and the BJP just one. Five other seats were bagged by Independents.
The hill council has powers to monitor development projects and chalk out work plans at the grassroots. Set up in 2003, the hill council, with a mandate to address local issues of governance, has 30 seats. Twenty-six councillors are elected from the respective constituencies and four councillors are nominated from the principal minority community and women. Kargil, a hilly district spread over 14,086 square kilometres, has a total population of 1.19 lakh, according to the 2001 census.