Muslims to become minority in Ladakh's majority regions, Owaisi slams Centre over Muslim-Buddhist divide

The creation of new districts in Ladakh, increasing their number from two to seven through the redrawing of boundaries, triggered a debate over alleged gerrymandering by the BJP-led government at the Centre, which, in effect, would shrink the Muslim-majority districts while enabling Buddhists, who constitute the second-largest population group in the region, to dominate, drawing widespread political criticism.

The contentious reorganisation, formally notified on Tuesday, comes nearly five years after the Narendra Modi-led government bifurcated the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and stripped Ladakh of legislative status by converting it into a Union Territory directly administered by the Centre.

Under the new arrangement, Ladakh will comprise seven districts instead of the existing two — Leh and Kargil. The newly created districts are Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass. While Nubra, Sham and Changthang have been carved out of Leh district, Zanskar and Drass have emerged from Kargil.

Critics argue that the reconfiguration disproportionately favours Buddhist-majority areas despite Muslims constituting the single largest religious community in Ladakh. According to Census 2011 figures, Muslims account for 46.40 per cent of Ladakh’s population of 2.74 lakh, while Buddhists comprise 39.65 per cent.

However, following the reorganisation, Muslim-majority Kargil and Drass together will encompass only two districts containing 99 revenue villages, whereas the Buddhist-majority districts of Sham, Changthang, Nubra, Leh and Zanskar will collectively comprise five districts with 151 villages, according to The Wire report.

The development prompted criticism from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who accused the Centre of engineering a political rupture between Ladakh’s Buddhist and Muslim populations, both of whom had jointly mobilised against the Union Territory’s diminished constitutional status.

“The govt has created 5 new districts in Ladakh. There are now 7 instead of 2 districts. The govt wants to divide the unified statehood movement of Buddhists and Muslims. This is another gerrymandering in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the 2011 Census, Ladakh has 46.40% Muslims and 39.65% Buddhist population out of the total population of 274289. Out of the 7 districts, 5 are Buddhist majority, and only 2 are Muslim. Basically, 5 districts for 39.65% population and only 2 districts for 46.40% population,” he wrote.

Describing the move as “another gerrymandering in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir”, Owaisi alleged that the Centre was attempting to fracture the unified statehood movement emerging in Ladakh since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, however, defended the decision as a “historic” administrative intervention intended to decentralise governance and extend state services to remote frontier settlements whose residents often travelled hundreds of kilometres to access district headquarters in Leh or Kargil.

Saxena stated that deputy commissioners and superintendents of police would be immediately appointed for the new districts, adding that the restructuring, approved earlier by the Union Home Ministry under Home Minister Amit Shah, would strengthen grassroots administration and accelerate public service delivery across Ladakh’s geographically isolated terrain.