Activist Sonam Wangchuk on Wednesday said he was ready to break his 25-day-long hunger strike if the government gave him assurances on key demands, including no legal action against agitators who mounted a massive protest that rocked Delhi earlier this week.
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Wangchuk released a video from his hospital bed at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, hours after he wrote an open letter to Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh, who met him for 45 minutes around midnight on Tuesday. Separately, at least 65 opposition MPs wrote to the activist, requesting him to end his hunger strike. At least 15 MPs from six parties went to visit him in the hospital in the evening, but were stopped by police outside the premises.
“Ministers, opposition leaders with (a letter) signed by 65 MPs appealed to me to end the hunger strike and get back to serving the nation. I also want to do it; my work is important too. But I request the government not to use force against children,” he said in the video.
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“I demand an assurance for no accusations or FIRs through which they can be threatened with police or jails. If I get the assurance soon, respecting your sentiments, I can break my fast today. But if I do not receive such assurance, unfortunately I will have to continue my hunger strike.”
In a late-evening press conference, Nadda confirmed the meeting. “We had gone to ask about his health because he was shifted from Safdarjung hospital to Medanta. He was in the ICU, where there is a restricted atmosphere, but we did ask about his health and told them to break his fast and join the mainstream…and to give students the right direction. He said he will respond back,” the minister said.
Originally a climate activist based in Ladakh, Wangchuk sat on an indefinite fast on June 28 at Jantar Mantar in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party that was demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over paper leaks. Delhi Police forcibly shifted him to Safdarjung Hospital on July 18 and later moved him to Medanta following a Delhi high court order on Tuesday, continuing his fast through the hospitalisation.
In his open letter addressed to the two ministers, Wangchuk said that Nadda and Singh assured him that the government would positively consider providing adequate compensation to the families of students who died by suicide following the NEET paper leak, and holding a meaningful discussion in Parliament to ensure accountability for exam irregularities, including considering the resignation of Pradhan.
“Therefore, I respectfully request an unequivocal assurance from the government that none of the young protesters will face any punitive or retaliatory legal action for participating in this movement. Their only ‘offence’ has been to raise their voice for a fair and accountable education system,” Wangchuk wrote.
“If such an assurance is given, I shall end my fast with faith that the government has heard not only my appeal but also the aspirations of lakhs of young Indians. In the absence of such an assurance, I will be forced to continue my fast indefinitely,” he added.
Separately, MPs from parties including the Congress, AAP, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI(M), TMC, JMM and BJD wrote to Wangchuk, appealing to him to end the fast and pledging to represent his cause inside Parliament. Calling him a “Gandhian, engineer, innovator, education reformer, and environmental activist”, the letter said his advocacy for a fair and accountable examination system had “touched the hearts of millions across the nation” and that the country needed his “wisdom and guidance far more than” his sacrifice.
The MPs also pledged their support for the movement itself, writing: “We fully support the continuation of the protest till such time that the objectives are achieved. We will also demand from the Government, in the larger public interest, that no coercive action, whether by way of registration of any FIR or through any other administrative measure, be initiated or pursued against the protesters or you in connection with the peaceful democratic movement.”
People aware of the matter said that the two ministers had a long discussion with Wangchuk. “The government has conveyed to Wangchuk that he should talk to the CJP and inform them that the genuine demands of the students are being heard. The government is already addressing some issues that were concerning…we have met them once and the time and place for a second round of meetings is being worked out,” said a person privy to the details.
Wangchuk is learnt to have told the ministers that he cannot take a call on the protest and would need to consult the students. “He said he will have to consult them…” said the person quoted above.
In the evening in Gurugram, opposition MPs submitted their letter to Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, after police did not allow them to meet the activist at Medanta Hospital.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said that 15 members from the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Biju Janata Dal, and AAP were not allowed to meet Wangchuk.
“Look at the tyranny. First time you might be witnessing that the police is stopping someone from meeting a patient in the hospital. We came to meet Sonam Wangchuk…Do they want Sonam Wangchuk to die?” Singh asked.
RJD MP Sanjay Yadav said, “BJP leaders will go, opposition leaders will not. They are manhandling the Members of Parliament. They don’t even know the basic protocol. We are asking the police to show us in return whether the administration stopped you or who stopped you.”
