Centre tells SC Sonam Wangchuk sought Nepal, Bangladesh-like unrest in Ladakh

New Delhi, Feb 2: The Central government and the Ladakh administration on Monday told the Supreme Court that climate activist Sonam Wangchuk wanted Ladakh to witness agitation and violence similar to what occurred in Nepal and Bangladesh, Bar & Bench reported. Opposing a plea challenging Wangchuk’s detention under the National Security Act (NSA), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that Wangchuk’s speeches revealed secessionist tendencies and attempts to instigate Generation Z to violence and civil unrest. “He refers to the Central government as ‘them’. This ‘us’ and ‘them’ is enough for NSA detention. There is no us and them. We are all Indians,” Mehta told a Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale. The submissions were made while the court was hearing a plea filed by Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, against his preventive detention. Wangchuk was detained following protests in Leh in September 2025 over demands for statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh. Mehta alleged that Wangchuk used references to Mahatma Gandhi as a façade while delivering inflammatory speeches, citing remarks allegedly invoking the Arab Spring, self-immolation, and comparisons with unrest in neighbouring countries. He also claimed Wangchuk sought to internationalise the agitation and targeted impressionable youth. Arguing that Ladakh’s strategic importance made such statements particularly serious, Mehta said the district magistrate’s subjective satisfaction in ordering detention could not be questioned by the court. The hearing will continue on Tuesday afternoon.