NEW DELHI (GNP): Calls are mounting for Indian educationist and activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his indefinite hunger strike amid concerns over his rapidly deteriorating health, as the 59-year-old enters his nineteenth day surviving on salt water alone.
Wangchuk has lost 9.1 kilograms since beginning the fast, and aides say he is in immense pain and unable to stand without support. The Delhi High Court is set to take up a petition on Thursday asking it to urgently intervene and provide medical aid, warning that he may die within two days without intervention.
Wangchuk has been protesting in support of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online satirical movement seeking educational reforms. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after a key medical entrance examination, NEET-UG 2026, was cancelled in early May following a paper leak. They say the minister must take moral responsibility and step down. Pradhan has dismissed CJP and its supporters as disruptive elements, and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not engaged with the protesters.
Wangchuk, widely known as “Sonam sir,” is one of Ladakh’s best-known public figures and received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2018, an honour often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize. He was the inspiration for the 2009 Bollywood film Three Idiots and appeared as a celebrity guest on the Indian television programme Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2017.
More than 1,800 artists, writers, academics, and activists have signed a statement urging him to stop his hunger strike. Opposition leaders have also appealed to him directly. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the country needed Wangchuk’s moral strength and urged him to break his fast, take time to recover, and rejoin the movement later.
Congress party MP Shashi Tharoor said Wangchuk had awakened the conscience of the nation and appealed to him to end the fast, noting that with Parliament reconvening on Monday, the students’ issues could be raised there instead. Actor Zeenat Aman called on the government to open a dialogue on the matter, saying the country must not allow one of its greatest minds to be sacrificed.
Wangchuk has so far refused to call off his fast, telling the BBC on Tuesday that he intends to see it through to its conclusion. A video circulated Wednesday showed him being helped to walk before he was seen wincing in pain and needing to sit down. A separate petition filed in the Delhi High Court has sought an order to take him to a government hospital and force-feed him, arguing that the government is treating him as a criminal or traitor and would bring shame on the country should he die.
Also Read: Dua Lipa Voices Support for Albanian Protesters Over Trump-Linked Resort Project
Dr Satish Lamba, who examined Wangchuk on Thursday, said he has lost fat and is now losing muscle mass, warning that the next stage of concern would be organ involvement.
The protest at Jantar Mantar, an 18th-century astronomical observatory in New Delhi, was organised by CJP under founder Abhijeet Dipke. Several others, including student organisation members, are on hunger strike alongside Wangchuk, with one hospitalised earlier in the week after a sharp deterioration in health. Protesters have called for a day-long hunger strike on Thursday and announced plans to march to Parliament on July 20, the day the next session begins.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
