Why Real-Life ‘Phunsukh Wangdu’, Who Inspired Aamir Khan’s Role in ‘3 Idiots’, is on 21-Day Fast in Ladakh sattaex.com

On March 5, Sonam Wangchuk, an innovator, engineer, and education reformist whose life inspired Aamir Khan’s character Phunsukh Wangdu in 3 Idiots, went on a fast-unto-death. The innovator has been at the forefront of highlighting climate change issues in the Indian Himalayas, particularly the cold desert of Ladakh.

Wangchuk’s fast will continue in phases till the central government accepts his demand of implementing the Sixth Schedule and giving Ladakh statehood. At the NDS stadium in Leh, Sonam and other locals are spending days and nights in the open even as night temperatures plummet to minus-16 degree Celsius.

Reminding the BJP of its 2019 poll promise in his speech before beginning his fast, Sonam said that the party had assured that the region will be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution because 97% of the population in Ladakh is indigenous tribal.

“When it became a Union Territory in 2019, the issue before the people was how can we now safeguard these mountains from business sharks, mining lobbies, and industrial lobbies. Luckily, the Government of India and the BJP stepped in,” he said to a crowd of thousands.

Multiple rounds of talks have since been held in New Delhi between the representatives of Ladakh and the Union Home Ministry, but the recently held discussions have upset the former who said the talks had failed. The representatives from two bodies, the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Leh Apex Body (LAB), have also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah but there has been no headway.

“I am sitting on a 21-day fast because this happens to be the longest duration Mahatma Gandhi fasted for during the freedom struggle. I want to follow the peaceful path of Mahatma Gandhi, where we inflict on ourselves and don’t take hostages. We take pain on ourselves so that the government and policymakers take notice and act in time,” he told the crowd gathered in the backdrop of snow-covered mountains.

He said he is reaching out to the people of the world from the Indian Himalayas at 11,500 feet at a time when the world is going through huge challenges like global warming and climate change. Wangchuk said all these issues are more visible in the Tibetan Plateau.

“On the Indian side of the Himalayas in Ladakh, our glaciers are melting very fast, causing droughts and flash floods alternately. Very soon, many of us will be climate refugees and we must protect this part of the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau which is often called the third pole,” he said.

Sonam added that the region hosts the largest reservoir of fresh water after the North and South poles, quenching 2 billion people directly or indirectly.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and the 2020 Local Hill council elections, the BJP promised a Sixth Schedule for the Union Territory. The BJP emerged victorious from the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in 2019.

“I am sitting in solidarity with the glaciers and nature,” he said, appealing to the people for support by organizing climate fasts in their cities on March 10.

“The statements of many leaders from the Opposition mention that this has happened because the industrial lobbies, the mining lobby, and the business sharks have been putting pressure on the Government of India to keep Ladakh open for all their exploitation of mining and all such activities which can be very dangerous in such a fragile area,” Wangchuk said.

On the fourth day of his fast, Wangchuk claimed there is anger among the people against not giving statehood to Ladakh.