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Delhi Police and paramilitary forces removed climate activist Sonam Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar in the Indian capital on July 18 after he completed more than 20 days of a hunger strike. Authorities acted on a Delhi High Court order issued the previous Thursday that placed him under medical supervision at a government hospital, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Sharma. Wangchuk had lost more than 9 kilograms while consuming only salt and water and had appeared visibly weak though he told supporters that he remained strong internally.
The protest began on June 28 in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party whose founder Abhijeet Dipke launched the Gen Z-led satirical movement in May to highlight failures in the education system, Al Jazeera reported. The group has demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the cancellation of key examinations in May that disrupted the futures of millions of aspirants. Wangchuk an engineer from Ladakh known for his environmental campaigns and as the real-life inspiration for the film 3 Idiots had planned a march to parliament but his hospitalisation leaves the action in doubt.
Congress leaders have pressed for Pradhan to step down citing widespread irregularities with party president Mallikarjun Kharge stating that more than 90 examination papers leaked during the current government’s tenure adversely affecting over 90 million students and their families, The Hindu reported. Rahul Gandhi described the scandals as a money-making racket linked to the establishment and claimed that in one instance the paper circulated on WhatsApp two days before the test destroying the efforts of 22 lakh candidates. Separate opposition tallies have placed the number of leaks at 65 since 2019 according to reports carried by The Print.
The Cockroach Janta Party has attracted 22 million Instagram followers by framing itself as the voice of the lazy the unemployed and the chronically correct while drawing attention to youth joblessness that stands at roughly 10 percent for ages 15 to 29 and 13.6 percent in urban areas, an Al Jazeera assessment found. The movement gained momentum after the May exam leaks that impacted 2.3 million medical candidates and has drawn support from student organisations and opposition politicians at the protest site. Dipke claimed he was beaten and detained by police in the chaos that followed Wangchuk’s removal, The Hindu said in live updates published the same day.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the activist on Thursday and called on the central government to open a dialogue while proposing in a symbolic move that Pradhan could be replaced by Wangchuk himself. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav urged the activist to end his fast even as he praised the commitment to highlighting systemic failures, according to accounts published by Al Jazeera. No direct response has come from Pradhan or Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the demonstrations continued to draw crowds of young protesters.
Wangchuk had declared that together supporters would march peacefully to parliament and added that if he died before the event his ghost would join the demonstration, the BBC reported. Medical staff at the government hospital are now monitoring his condition following the forcible transfer that involved covering him with bedsheets and curtains to manage the scene. The episode adds to years of scrutiny over the National Testing Agency’s handling of competitive examinations that have repeatedly triggered nationwide outrage.
