New Delhi, Oct 13: Ahead of Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa’s visit to India, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized the BJP government for failing to fulfill its Sixth Schedule promise for Ladakh, calling the region in need of “a healing touch” from the nation and its ruling party.
Ramesh highlighted the legacy of the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist monk and public figure of Ladakh, who served as India’s Ambassador to Mongolia for an unprecedented ten years. He credited Rinpoche with helping Mongolia rediscover its Buddhist heritage following the collapse of communism in 1990. Leh Airport was later renamed in his honor by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who called him the “architect of modern Ladakh.”
“The revival of Buddhism – not just in Mongolia and the erstwhile USSR – but also in India itself owes much to him,” Ramesh noted. “Today, Ladakh desperately awaits a healing touch from the nation, but most importantly from a party that promised Sixth Schedule constitutional protection in its 2020 hill council elections manifesto and is now refusing to deliver on that promise.”
Ramesh’s remarks come in the wake of widespread violence in Leh on September 24, during protests led by the Ladakh Action Board (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards. Opposition leaders have condemned the deaths during the unrest and the subsequent arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA).
Mongolian President Khurelsukh will undertake a four-day visit to India, his first as president, to explore bilateral cooperation in energy, mining, and defense. He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu, who will host a banquet in his honor. Khurelsukh will be accompanied by a high-level delegation of cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, officials, and business leaders.
The India-Mongolia partnership spans multiple sectors, including defense and security, energy, mining, IT, education, healthcare, and cultural cooperation, reflecting decades of historic ties dating back to India’s support for Mongolia joining the United Nations in 1961.