‘Is Delhi someone’s personal property?’ AAP govt stands with Sonam Wangchuk

AAP workers mounted a protest in Delhi against lt governor V.K. Saxena after Delhi chief minister Atishi was stopped from meeting climate activist Sonam Wangchuk at Bawana Police Station.

Wangchuk and around 120 others on a march to Delhi demanding Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh were detained at the Singhu border yesterday night, 30 September.

The Delhi Police has stepped up security around the Bawana Police Station where Wangchuk has been kept.

After being denied permission to meet Wangchuk, the chief minister slammed the BJP and the Lt Governor, alleging that this is dictatorship.

"I reached Bawana Police Station to meet Sonam Wangchuk ji and 150 brothers and sisters of Ladakh. Delhi police did not let me meet them. We were told that LG sahab called and ordered not to let me meet them. This dictatorship is not right," Atishi alleged in a post on X.

She said that Wangchuk and the people of Ladakh are also fighting against the LG's rule, and demanded that the same rule be ended in Delhi as well.

"The people of Delhi stand with the people of Ladakh. The LG rule should end in Ladakh. Also, the LG rule should end in Delhi. Ladakh and Delhi should get the status of a full state," the chief minister said.

Scores of AAP workers protested outside the Bawana Police Station against Delhi LG.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal also objected to Wangchuk's detention and said, "Delhi is not any single person's inheritance; everyone has the right to come here."

"Sometimes, farmers are stopped from entering Delhi, at other times Ladakhis are stopped. Is Delhi someone's personal property? Delhi is the nation's capital, and everyone has the right to come here. This is completely wrong.

"What are they so afraid of from unarmed, peaceful people?" he asked.

Wangchuk and several of his associates have gone on an indefinite fast at police stations where they have been kept.

According to police sources, they were all examined by a team of doctors.

The climate activist was leading the 'Delhi Chalo Padyatra' which began from Leh a month ago.

Slamming the detention, Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia said, "Is Sonam Wangchuk a terrorist? Why does the central government want to stop them from entering Delhi?"

He alleged that the BJP was working on converting every state into a Union Territory and jailing those who happen to oppose it. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi termed the detention "unacceptable".

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it was the "arrogance of the Modi government" that led to the detention of Ladakhis peacefully marching to Delhi.

The BJP described the party's condemnation of the detention of Wangchuk as "hypocrisy in extreme."