A video (here, here, and here) has been doing its rounds on social media in which climate activist Sonam Wangchuck was allegedly seen expressing his intent to destabilise Kashmir and India. In the viral video, he can be seen saying, ‘..Be it any area in the world it should be happy, people should be free to go wherever they want. So that’s why.. you must have heard about referendums and plebiscites. So, if everyone thinks the same, why not in Kashmir?‘
Claim: In this video, climate activist Sonam Wangchuck supported a plebiscite in Kashmir.
Fact: This is a short clip from his longer interview he gave to a YouTube channel named ‘The Fourth Estate’taken and shared out of context. In the original interview, he expressed his views on a question posed by the interviewer about the people of Kargil wanting to be part of Kashmir, not Kashmir wanting to be part of Pakistan, as being portrayed in the clipped viral post. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To check the veracity of the viral claim, we performed an internet search using appropriate keywords, which led us to the original full-length interview of Sonam Wangchuk, from which the viral video was clipped.
This video was uploaded to The Fourth Estate’s YouTube channel.
During this interview, at around 14:23, journalist Ravindra Singh Sheoran gives a prelude of Wangchuk responding to the tweet of a political leader from Kargil and then proceeds to ask Wangchuck about the desire of the residents of Kargil to be a part of Kashmir.
Responding to this question, Wanchuck said “So this is what I was asking. Few people can have their views. But if the whole region or population has the same view… then we will pray and work hard to ensure it will happen. Be it any area in the world,… it should be happy; people should be free to go wherever they want. So that’s why.. you must have heard about referendums and plebiscites. So, if everyone thinks the same, why not in Kashmir?” Here (archive link), he was not discussing destabilising Kashmir or people’s wish to be part of Pakistan. This clarifies that an edited video is being falsely shared as Sonam Wangchuk talking about a plebiscite in Kashmir.
We also found the tweet (archive link) that was brought up by Journalist Ravindra Singh in this interview.
This was made by a political activist (read this) named “Sajjad Kargili.’ Ravindra Singh even provided a clarification (archive link) on his YouTube channel that Wangchuk was misquoted by social media users as demanding a plebiscite or referendum in Kashmir.
After the video went viral on social media, Wangchuk also clarified through a video (archive link) he posted on ‘X.’ He said that his statement was ‘only & only about Ladakh, Leh & Kargil’
To sum up, Sonam Wangchuk has not spoken about destabilising India or about a plebiscite in Kashmir.
