NEW DELHI, July 18 (Reuters) – Authorities in India’s capital Delhi have moved fasting social activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital after his condition worsened on the 21st day of a hunger strike he launched to demand the resignation of the federal education minister.
Wangchuk, 59, has been fasting since June 28 in solidarity with India’s youth Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down over exam paper leaks in May that affected millions of students.
Wangchuk’s campaign has emerged as a rare public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, drawing widespread support across India and amplifying the activist’s demands through millions of views and shares on social media.
Television visuals on Saturday showed dozens of policemen and security personnel in fatigues and also in plain clothes reaching the venue of the protest and holding large white cloth sheets on a stage that had been created for the protest before Wangchuk was taken away.
Wangchuk could not be seen in the TV visuals.
POLICE ASKED PROTESTERS TO LEAVE
“In compliance with the court’s order, and based on health conditions and medical advice, Mr Sonam Wangchuk has been moved from here to an appropriate government hospital for much-needed medical intervention and is currently under medical supervision,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma told reporters at the site.
On Thursday, the Delhi High Court asked authorities to watch his health closely and intervene if needed, in response to a petition asking authorities to force-feed him as his health weakened.
Police also moved some CJP supporters who were staging a sit-in at the venue, asking them to vacate the area. Visuals showed one woman protester being physically lifted by policewomen and carried away.
ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake, said Wangchuk was conscious, and his vitals were stable in the hospital.
“They dragged Sonam Sir away…a 60-year-old man, who had been on a hunger strike for 20 days and hadn’t eaten a thing, was forcibly dragged away by the Delhi Police. We have no idea where they have taken him,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke told reporters.
Protesters from the CJP said they would march to India’s parliament on July 20, when the monsoon session begins, to press their demand for Pradhan’s resignation and seek exam reforms.
“I am starting an indefinite hunger strike beginning right now,” Dipke posted on X.
AT THE CENTRE OF PROTESTS
Wangchuk has been at the centre of CJP’s protests, lying on a mattress in the middle of a stage, as supporters and visitors to the protest site mill about.
Last year, Modi’s government accused Wangchuk of inciting people through what it said were provocative statements during violent protests in the federal Himalayan territory of Ladakh, to which he belongs.
Wangchuk spent about six months in jail before being released in March this year. He has denied the allegations against him, and said the violent protests were a reflection of the frustration with the federal government.
On the third day of his fast, Wangchuk told Reuters his fast would last six weeks unless he died first.
“But hopefully, we don’t have to go that far,” he had said. “A sensitive government in a democracy listens to the pains of the people, and I hope they will take action.”
The hunger strike has generated widespread attention on social media. More than 100,000 Instagram reels have been posted by users urging Wangchuk to abandon the protest.
(Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and YP Rajesh; Additional reporting by Shubham Kalia, Aftab Ahmed and Saurabh Sharma; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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