From Lux Magazine, issue 14
“END FOSSIL FUEL NOW!”
The sharp cry broke through the monotony of the COP28 plenary session in Dubai in late 2023, where world leaders sat discussing climate action. The mood at the meeting was somber; activists and several delegates were disappointed with the talks’ lackluster commitment to a “transition” from fossil fuels. As her words rang out, a 12-year-old girl ran onto the stage clutching a hand-scrawled sign: “END FOSSIL FUEL. SAVE OUR PLANET AND OUR FUTURE.”
For a brief moment, Licypriya Kangujam was the center of attention. Security quickly intervened — a tall man more than twice her size whisked her away. The audience, stunned by the sudden disruption, began clapping. Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, Director General of COP28, offered a word of admiration for the passionate young activist, encouraging another round of applause.
The media immediately drew parallels between Kangujam and Greta Thunberg, whose “How dare you?” speech at the 2019 UN Climate Summit had catapulted her to global fame. Media and environmental groups lapped up Kangujam’s protest at COP28, given that there had been few that year due to restrictions placed on the event by the United Arab Emirates. Kangujam was already a prominent activist in India; her social media showed her meeting with the late pope and she was a special envoy to Timor-Leste, an island nation extremely vulnerable to climate disasters. As often happens, the press was thrilled by the idea of a celebrity child heroine, a new voice demanding urgent action. But behind the applause lay a complicated story of how Kangujam had arrived at that moment.
Watching from afar was her father, Kangujam Kanarjit Singh, known to many in Indian climate activist circles as KK Singh. Singh had not traveled abroad in years due to his arrest and imprisonment in India on charges of fraud, cheating, impersonation, and forgery for his role in running elaborate scams targeting young activists in India and abroad. Singh lived with his family in the city of Noida in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where he had for years carefully orchestrated his daughter’s activism and image through public protests, well documented on her social media account. At the age of eight, she held a sit-in protest outside the Indian parliament urging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass a climate change law, and she attended COP25 in Madrid in a trip reportedly sponsored by the Government of Spain and the European Climate Foundation.
In 2021, however, Singh was arrested and jailed for eight months, and his family went underground to escape media attention on the young activist. After securing bail, Singh receded from view. But he continued to position his young daughter as the face of Indian climate activism. He lurked in the background of his daughter’s achievements, raising questions about the degree to which he was using her to advance his own agenda and the potential costs he was inflicting on her.
Makepeace Sitlhou is an independent journalist and producer based in India. She was previously a Fulbright fellow at Arizona State University. You can find her work at makepeacesitlhou.com.
More content from this blog
- Oyan, Qazaqstan and The Kazakh Spring. Interview with Asem Zhapisheva – 2 October 2025
- Why Don’t You Use The Right Words? Sally Abed and Jess Bricker in Conversation with Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green – 14 November 2025
- Spillover Effect of Trump Administration Felt in Taiwanese Domestic Politics, by Brian Hioe – 12 February 2025
- Reinventing the Right in Morocco. Interview with Mohamed Salhi – 21 July 2025
- Beyond Maduro and Trump: Venezuela From Below, by The Right Podcast – 11 January 2026