BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who burst into national fame after his spirited defence in Parliament of the Modi government’s move to abrogate Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was on Monday appointed president of the Ladakh unit of the party.
Mr. Namgyal, 35, who won the Ladakh seat in 2019 with a margin of 11,000 votes, is one of youngest leaders to head a local unit, especially as sensitive as Ladakh, where India is locked in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation with China. For this early success, Mr. Namgyal has had an early start, first with student politics in the University of Jammu as the president of the All Ladakh Students Union and later as a member of the BJP in 2012. In 2014 he was asked to manage the election of senior BJP leader and Ladakh candidate Thupstan Chhewang to the Lok Sabha (he was also Mr. Chhewang’s private secretary for three years previous to that). He stood for and won polls to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in 2015, again one of the youngest to do so.
In 2019, however, it was Mr. Namgyal’s turn for the Lok Sabha and despite resentment from seniors, he got the ticket and won with a handsome margin. The abrogation of Article 370 and according the Union Territory status to Ladakh provided him a good opportunity to show case his oratory, with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciating the young MP, whose exhortations to protesting opposition MPs to “have patience to hear the other side” (Sunne Ki Kshamata Rakhiye) became a hit meme on social media.
Mr. Namgyal’s appointment as Ladakh unit chief is not without resentment, with national general secretary Ram Madhav having visited Ladakh for a firefighting operation a few weeks back, but the decision reflects a continuation of an aggressive political line in places (like the northeastern States) where the BJP had not, in the past, got much traction.
