New Delhi, 30 Sept

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "betrayed" the people of Ladakh, the Congress top brass alleged on Tuesday with party leader Rahul Gandhi also demanding a judicial probe into the death of four protesters in police firing in the union territory.

Among those killed in Ladakh on Wednesday was Kargil war veteran Tsewang Tharchin.

Both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi centred their social media posts on the anguish surrounding his death.

Kharge posted a video of Tharchin's father on X and said Ladakh's sorrow is the sorrow of the entire nation.

"Shaheed Tsewang Tarchin fulfilled his duty towards Mother India in the Kargil War... What did he get in return? A bullet from the Modi government in Ladakh! The father was also in the army, the son was also in the army," Kharge said.

"When our 20 brave soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country at the LAC in Ladakh in Galwan, Modi Ji himself gave China a CLEAN CHIT! If he didn't remember the valor of our brave soldiers then, what chance is there now? Those who can give China a CLEAN CHIT, what respect will they show for the martyrdom of brave soldiers like our Tsewang Tharchin!" he said.

This is the BJP's hollow nationalism, Kharge claimed.

Gandhi, who is on a four-nation tour of South America, posted the same video of Tharchin's father and said, "Father in the army, son in the army - patriotism runs in their blood. Yet the BJP government shot and killed this brave son of the nation, simply because he stood up for Ladakh and his rights."

The father's pain-filled eyes ask one question, is this reward for serving the nation today, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said in his post in Hindi.

"We demand that an impartial judicial inquiry be conducted into these killings in Ladakh, and the culprits be given the harshest punishment...

"(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji, you have betrayed the people of Ladakh. They are demanding their rights. Communicate with them - stop the politics of violence and fear," the former Congress president said.

The Congress on Monday said it was outrageous that ex-serviceman Tharchin was among those killed in firing by the security forces in Ladakh. In a post on X, Congress general secretary, in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh said Tharchin served at the Siachen Glacier and fought valiantly in the 1999 Kargil War.

His father, too, served in the Indian Army, he said.

"Tsewang Tharchin was protesting peacefully for Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh. It should be a matter of the deepest anguish and outrage that he was killed along with three others in the firing on the agitationists five days back," Ramesh said.

On Wednesday, 24 September, four people were killed in police firing and scores of others were injured when a protest for statehood for Ladakh turned violent. Protesters set a local BJP office on fire and allegedly pelted police and CRPF with stones.

On 26 September, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act on Friday and subsequently lodged in Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan.