Who decides who is a patriot? The lesson from Sonam Wangchuk’s arrest

By Martin Macwan*

Sonam Wangchuk represents India’s progressive civil society. To brand him as “anti-national” is not just an insult to one individual—it is an affront to the entire civil society of this country. I strongly condemn his arrest under the National Security Act (NSA). The government must make public the reasons why Sonam Wangchuk has been labeled anti-national, so that the citizens of India may understand what, in today’s times, truly defines a “nationalist citizen.”

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where 97 percent of the population is tribal, it was Sonam Wangchuk and his team who, within a short span of ten years, raised the school pass rate of tenth-grade students from 5 percent to 75 percent. At an altitude of 10,500 feet, in the most difficult mountainous terrains, he used innovative technology—without cables or complex infrastructure—to connect Ladakhi tribal students through the internet to the global world of education.

It was Sonam Wangchuk who, in sub-zero temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius that freeze human bone and flesh, built solar-powered mud schools with dormitories maintaining indoor temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, giving tribal students a chance to learn and thrive. He is also the innovator who designed warm tents enabling Indian soldiers to defend the nation in extreme cold, and who turned winter ice formations into artificial glaciers that slowly melt in summer to provide water for irrigation.

Instead of glorifying a few tribal leaders with decorative political posts as symbols of love for the tribal community, Wangchuk created unique opportunities that allow tribal people to live with dignity—and he devoted his life to that cause.

By arresting Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act, the central government seems to be sending a clear message to all progressive citizens: possessing proof of citizenship is no longer enough to live under the Constitution’s guarantees of fundamental rights; one must now also prove one’s “nationalist citizenship.” This is bound to create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among ordinary citizens. The time has come for people themselves to reclaim the right to define what truly constitutes “national interest.”

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*Founder, Dalit Shakti Kendra, Navsarjan Trust, Ahmedabad

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