• Source:JND
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In a sharp response to the "anti-national" label being attached to her husband Sonam Wangchuk following last week’s violent Ladakh statehood protest, Gitanjali Angmo, an activist and educationist herself has come out in his defense. On Monday, she took to social media to share two telling images: one of Wangchuk with Nobel laureate and former interim Bangladeshi leader Mohammed Yunus, and another of Yunus with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“If it’s okay for the honourable PM to meet Mohammed Yunus, why is it a problem when Sonam Wangchuk, India’s educator and innovator, meet(s) him?” Angmo wrote in a post on X, addressing the wave of criticism branding her husband a traitor.

Her response comes amid a flood of online accusations suggesting Wangchuk, a central figure in the Ladakh agitation, had ties to those who played a role in the political shift in Bangladesh that saw Sheikh Hasina ousted from power.

Security agencies have pointed to Wangchuk’s public references to youth-led movements including the recent Gen-Z protests in Nepal and the 2024 student uprising in Bangladesh as evidence he incited the September 24 protest in Ladakh, which ended in tragedy with four deaths.

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Wangchuk is currently being held in Jodhpur jail under the National Security Act, a law that allows authorities to detain individuals without trial for up to a year.

While Leh is calm for now, the city remains under curfew and on edge.

 
 
 
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A post shared by Sonam Wangchuk (@wangchuksworld)

The image at the heart of the controversy of Wangchuk embracing Yunus isn’t new. It was posted by Wangchuk himself back in 2020 after the two met during an event at the British High Commission in Dhaka. At that time, Sheikh Hasina was still in power.

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As for the second photo, Yunus with Prime Minister Modi, it was taken in April 2025 during a summit in Bangkok, where the two met on the sidelines of the event.