Sonam Wangchuk hospitalized after 19-day hunger strike over education scandal

Delhi Police removed Sonam Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and shifted him to Safdarjung Hospital after 19 days on a hunger strike that had become a test of how India handles dissent over education and governance. His supporters said police forcibly took him from the protest site, while authorities described the move as a medical intervention based on expert advice.

Wangchuk began the fast on June 28 at Jantar Mantar, joining a protest organized with support from the Cockroach Janta Party, the youth-led satirical group that backed the action. The immediate demand was the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged exam-paper leaks and wider education accountability failures. Students and other supporters joined the demonstration as concern spread over exam irregularities that had affected millions of students across the country.

His condition had become a central concern in the final days of the protest. By the time he was removed, Wangchuk had been fasting on salt water for roughly 16 to 20 days, and he had lost 9.1 kilograms in 19 days. The severity of the fast made the confrontation over his removal especially contentious, with activists accusing the police of treating a peaceful protest as a security problem rather than a public health emergency.

The protest also carried the political demands of Ladakh, where Wangchuk has long been associated with calls for statehood and constitutional protections for the region. His hunger strike brought those grievances back into the national spotlight alongside the education scandal, linking exam integrity to broader questions of accountability in government. The issue resonated beyond Ladakh because the alleged paper leaks and irregularities were not presented as a local grievance but as a national crisis with consequences for millions of students.

Wangchuk has used hunger strikes before in campaigns over Ladakh autonomy and related demands, a pattern that has repeatedly forced the region’s concerns into public view. This latest fast again showed how a single protest site in Delhi can become the stage for disputes over education, federal power and the treatment of dissenters.