Two years ago, when the Orthodox Syrian Church invited me to a function where the Dr Paulos Mar Gregorios Award was to be conferred on Sonam Wangchuk from Ladakh, I was pleasantly surprised. Could the recipient be my friend Sonam Wangchuk Shakspo, who is also from the same region? He had his own credentials to win the prize.

We became friends when the Hindustan Times sent me to Mongolia to interview the newly elected democratic President, Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat. He was scheduled to visit India.

Incidentally, Mongolia was the first Asian country to adopt Communism, and it also became the first to discard it in favour of democracy. While the Hindustan Times covered my travel expenses, the Mongolian government treated me as a state guest, providing a car, driver, and an interpreter during my 10-day stay.

At that time, India's Ambassador to Mongolia was Rev Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, and Sonam was his secretary. Whenever I had free time in the evenings, I would visit the Embassy to enjoy rice, dal, and mutton curry cooked in Indian style. I was fortunate to meet Rinpoche, about whom I later wrote a long feature. Chandan Mitra, the executive editor, published it on the front page.

I wrote that the Ambassador was more popular in Mongolia than even the President. I also included a picture of people queuing outside the Embassy early in the morning, bringing gifts for Rinpoche. In return, he would give each visitor a sacred thread.

I bought a carpet in Mongolia on the condition that Sonam would send it to Delhi as part of the Ambassador's luggage. As luck would have it, Rinpoche and I were on the same flight from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, where I had planned to spend a few days.

Shortly after takeoff, the Ambassador invited me to join him in the First Class cabin. The Chinese crew happily upgraded me, as many seats were empty. Throughout the flight, passengers came to greet Rinpoche, and he would give each of them a thread. Whenever we spoke, I relied on Sonam to interpret, as Rinpoche spoke only Ladakhi.

Rinpoche was the undisputed leader of the Ladakhis, having been elected multiple times to both the state Assembly and Parliament. He was humble enough to carry my carpet, which still adorns my drawing room.

Today, Sonam Wangchuk holds a senior religious position and frequently travels to Russia, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and other countries to promote the Ladakhi brand of Buddhism. He and Rinpoche were responsible for the construction of a monastery in Ulaanbaatar, which was still under construction when I visited.

Six years ago, Sonam sent me a biography of Rinpoche that he had written. Anyone who wishes to understand why he is called the Architect of Modern Ladakh or why Ladakh is so vital to the Indian Union should read it.

However, my hunch was wrong—it was another Sonam Wangchuk receiving the Paulos Mar Gregorios Award, which carried a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

My research led me to Phunsukh Wangdu, a character in the popular Hindi film 3 Idiots, a brilliant satire on the education system. I discovered that Wangdu was modelled after Sonam Wangchuk, an educationist, climate activist, and peacenik. His achievements were impressive, and I realised the award committee had made a wise choice. I made sure to attend the function at St. Thomas School in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.

Wangchuk changed my perception of peace, a recurring theme in all religions. The word "peace" appears 420 times in the King James Version of the Bible.

Buddha attained inner peace through meditation, which inspired him to work for world peace. He often emphasised that the practice of vipassan? uproots mental defilements, the sources of suffering and restlessness. Peace and non-violence are deeply rooted in Hinduism, both in ancient texts and practice. The incarnations of deities often aimed to restore peace.

Sikhism's three core tenets—meditation on and devotion to the Creator, truthful living, and service to humanity—also emphasise peace. Even war, in Sikhism, is to restore peace. Other religions, likewise, stress peace.

While receiving the award, Wangchuk observed that in the past, violence was widespread in society, which is why all religions emphasised peace—they wanted violence and strife to end. Today, with the rule of law established in most countries, physical violence has decreased, and fewer people are killed. However, the number of deaths caused by climate change has been rising every day.

At least "one million people" die annually due to flash floods, cloudbursts, melting glaciers, tornadoes, and other natural disasters, all of which are linked to atmospheric pollution.

Wangchuk pointed out, "When you travel in a big, beautiful car, remember that you're emitting enormous amounts of carbon for every kilometre." The tragedy, he said, is that religious leaders seem unconcerned about the millions dying because of climate change.

His own Ladakh region is suffering from melting glaciers. He stressed, "When you live a simple life in the cities, we in the mountains will also be able to live simply." He called for a campaign led by religious leaders to make people aware of the dangers of excessive consumption, which leads to climate change and its resulting disasters.

Wangchuk's message deeply touched me. It made me realise we need more voices like his to remind the world of the importance of living simple, unostentatious lives. Instead of setting the air conditioner to 16°C when it's 45°C outside, we could simply turn on a fan.

I recall once hearing Amartya Sen explain why he wore woollen clothes in summer. "In the hotel where I stay, and in the seminar hall, the temperature is kept so low that I would feel cold otherwise." He wasn't referring to a winter day but to summer in Delhi.

Sonam Wangchuk captured the headlines in the media when, last Monday, he and about 120 of his followers were stopped at the Singhu border in Delhi. They had not violated any laws under the Indian Penal Code or the newly created Bharatiya Nyay Samhita. Yet, they were detained at a police station for more than 24 hours.

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Singh went to meet Wangchuk, but she was asked to return. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi had given clear instructions to the police not to allow Wangchuk to meet any political leaders. What crime had he committed?

He began a peaceful march from Leh in Ladakh to Raj Ghat in New Delhi on September 1, aiming to conclude it on Gandhi Jayanti. No, this was not a sightseeing trip. They had clear demands for which the Ladakhis have been fighting for decades since India's independence.

One of their demands is to bring Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which contains provisions related to the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule allows certain tribal areas to be governed as autonomous entities.

Sonam Wangchuk is not the first to make this demand. As the biography of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche shows, the people of Ladakh, whether Buddhist or Muslim, have been demanding Scheduled Tribe status since India became independent.

There was also a demand to rename Jammu and Kashmir as "Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh," with good reason, as Ladakh's area is larger than the combined geographical area of Jammu and Kashmir. Another demand is for Kargil and Leh to have their own representatives in the Lok Sabha. Statehood for Ladakh is yet another demand. Currently, they are asking for a public service commission exclusively for Ladakh, along with expediting the recruitment process.

These are the people's demands, and Wangchuk is merely articulating them. There is no harm in calling them for talks. The book I quoted mentions that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru spent four days in Ladakh to understand their problems.

The heavens would not have fallen if Wangchuk and his fellow marchers had been allowed to walk through Delhi to reach Raj Ghat on October 2. Instead, the government arranged buses to secretly carry them to Raj Ghat after nightfall. The government was afraid that by the time they reached Raj Ghat, many people would have joined the procession.

The government did what it does best. This is the same government that detained hundreds of farmers from Punjab protesting against the three hastily enacted farm laws by the Modi government. The government even threatened to use force against the farmers, but realising it might lead to another Jallianwala Bagh situation, it backed off, leaving the farmers to suffer through one winter and one summer at the border. Of course, the farmers were also branded as Khalistanis and anti-nationals.

Throughout the month-long march to Delhi, there was not a single instance of violence. When Wangchuk and company reached Haryana, they realised the state was preparing for elections on October 5. Not wanting to get involved in the state's electoral politics, they stayed in their vehicles as they travelled through Haryana.

But they could not have imagined being stopped at the Delhi border and detained in police custody for more than 24 hours. Ideally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his Sancho Panza should have called them for talks.

The Ladakhis have a glorious history. Ladakh was an independent kingdom from the 10th century AD to the 19th century, ruled by two dynasties. In 1842, Wazir Zorawar Singh, a military commander of Maharaja Gulab Singh of J&K, conquered both Ladakh and Baltistan and brought the region under his control. In 1846, the British colonial government handed J&K over to the Maharaja under the Treaty of Amritsar. Even under the Maharaja, Ladakh enjoyed a degree of autonomy.

Modi and Amit Shah should remember that Ladakhis stood united when Pakistani tribes tried to capture the region in 1948. Their integrity and patriotism cannot be questioned. It's worth noting that the Chinese would be only too happy to meddle in Ladakhi affairs.

This is all the more reason the Centre should invite Wangchuk for talks. There is no doubt that he has now emerged as the political successor to Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, who used to be elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed.

The conduct of the Central government reminded me of Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" first staged in 1962. The title was a pun on the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, with the Big Bad Wolf replaced by the name of the celebrated British writer. We are tempted to ask, Who's Afraid of Sonam Wangchuk? If it's not Narendra Modi, then who?

The beauty of democracy is that it allows all kinds of opinions and demands to surface. Some of these may be impractical or utopian, but the people's right to question cannot be curtailed, as underscored by the comical detention of Sonam Wangchuk and his followers.