Please find below a statement that will be put out from the food and seed sovereignty movement in India.

You can download the full statement here.

The under-signed individuals, who work to promote localised and sustainable food systems in India in order to build food sovereignty at all levels, condemn unequivocally the arrest of environmental and local governance activist Shri Sonam Wangchuck by the Government of India and ask for his immediate release.

It is a cruel joke that someone working for food sovereignty for a community/region, and thereby for the nation itself, is being questioned on the very concept of sovereignty and being portrayed as being anti-national, which is utterly ridiculous.

Localised food systems and agro-ecology as well as protection of environmental resources (especially from the plunder of corporate greed) need sound local governance, and the statehood demand of Ladakhis is well-justified. The issues that Wangchuck and his team have been working on, are about self-reliance – the very atma nirbharata that the Prime Minister of India rightly exhorts citizens of the country to adopt. We shouldn’t forget that Wangchuk led a strong campaign to boycott Chinese products.

We have witnessed the lack of prompt and meaningful dialogues with peaceful protests in the context of the Kisan Andolan 2020-21 too, by the Government of India, leading to completely-avoidable loss of precious lives and to the build-up of unneeded strife in any such situation. We expect our governments to be responsive and sympathetic to the just demands of citizens, without inordinate and unjustifiable delays.

The labeling of people criticising governments for their policy actions/inactions, and of those building movements against problematic policies as anti-national has no place in a democracy like India. Being critical of governments is not equal to being anti-national; it is most often an act of good citizenship. Wangchuck’s character assassination as being “anti-national” must stop immediately.

We condemn the acts of violence perpetrated against properties like political party buildings and vehicles on September 24th 2025. However, we also condemn the government’s action to hold Sonam Wangchuck responsible for the violence on the 24th of September 2025 when he was appealing for peace, and the police-firing upon citizens which resulted in deaths.  

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Sonam Wangchuck from the jail where he has been moved, and we demand that the Government of India continue with its dialogue to resolve the demands of the Ladakhis immediately.

Sd/-
1. Devinder Sharma, Agriculture Policy Analyst
2. Suman Sahai, Scientist trained in Genetics
3. Kavitha Kuruganti, Farmers’ Rights Activist
4. Kapil Shah, Promoter of Organic Farming
5. Debal Deb, (Agro)-Ecologist and landraces conservator
6. Ashish Kothari, Researcher 
7. Sridhar Radhakrishnan, Acivist and Writer – Environment & Development
8. Kiran Vissa, Farmers’ Rights Activist
9. Rajesh Krishnan, Organic Farmer, Traditional Paddy Diversity Conservator and Promoter
10. Ananthoo, Safe Food Alliance TN
11. Ashlesha Khadse, Independent Researcher
12. Selvam Ramasamy, TN Organic Farmers’ Federation
13. Ramasubramaniam, Samanvaya
14. Usha Kumari S, Safe Food and Diversity Campaigner
15. Akash Badave, Promoter of Agro-Ecology

Please sign on if you want your name to appear at the end of the statement. PLEASE NOTE THAT FILLING THE FORM AND SUBMITTING IT WILL BE TAKEN AS A CONSENT FROM YOUR SIDE FOR YOUR NAME AND DESCRIPTION OF YOURSELF TO APPEAR IN THE LIST OF ENDORSEES AT THE END OF THE STATEMENT.

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This statement is endorsed by: