Opposition Slams Police Action As BJP Cites Health Concerns For Wangchuk's Hospitalisation

There was a throng of people at Jantar Mantar on Friday, checking on Sonam Wangchuk as he continued his hunger strike at the Cockroach Janta Party's anti-government protest, including a senior Congress leader. However, around 7 am on Saturday, Wangchuk, on the 21st day of his hunger strike, was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by Delhi Police.

However, Leftist student body AISA, Neha, Aameen and Manish, who have also been on hunger strike along with Wangchuk, continue fasting on the 21st day to demand the Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation for the NEET question leak in May.

Their health condition is deteriorating, said N. Sai Balaji, former AISA national president, adding that they will continue to protest and resist the police's attempts to remove the students. “To prevent the police from taking them away, we have formed a human chain around them.”

Protesters alleged that the police used lathis to disperse students and remove them from the site. By Saturday, however, the protesters, including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, had returned to Jantar Mantar, with Dipke announcing that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike.

Health Concerns Trigger Hospital Shift

Wangchuk's removal and the police action at Jantar Mantar came a day after Delhi got a new police commissioner, Anurag Kumar, who replaced Satish Golchha, more than nine months before the latter's scheduled retirement.  

Delhi Police said on X that Sonam Wangchuk was removed from the protest site "as per orders of the Delhi High Court" and on "expert medical advice" due to his deteriorating health. He has been shifted to a hospital for “essential medical care”. Wangchuk has been admitted to the emergency ward at Safdarjung Hospital in the capital. He has lost around 9.5 kg during the fast. Doctors said he was showing signs of mild dehydration but remained mentally alert.

The police said that while complying with the High Court's orders, protesters “tried to create obstruction”, resulting in a “slight commotion”. However, it added that officers exercised "maximum restraint" and carried out the operation safely. “We request the protestors at Jantar Mantar to peacefully vacate the place at the earliest,” the post said.

On Friday, Congress leader Pawan Khera met Wangchuk and his three fellow hunger-strikers from the Leftist student body AISA. The grand old party, which had refrained from commenting on CJP's protest against Pradhan while continuing its own agitation on the issue, had on Thursday expressed solidarity with the Jantar Mantar programme.

Earlier on Friday, Wangchuk told supporters that although he was "weak on the outside", he remained "very strong on the inside". He urged people to join the planned march to Parliament on July 20, the opening day of the Monsoon Session. “I will stay alive till July 20 at any cost… If you don’t come in large numbers and if the march isn’t successful on July 20, then I will come back as a ghost,” he added.

Khera, on Saturday, criticised the Delhi Police, saying the Constitution guarantees every citizen the fundamental right to protest peacefully. In a post on X, he alleged that the Union Home Ministry had "targeted this very constitutional right".

Noting that the Delhi Police functions under the Home Ministry, Khera said the appointment of a new commissioner a day earlier made the action significant. "If today's barbaric action is Commissioner Sahib's first message, then it clearly shows that his loyalty is more towards power than to constitutional duty," he wrote.

"For this government, peaceful protest is not a citizen's fundamental democratic right, but rather a 'law and order' problem that should be crushed with the force of batons," Khera added. "What greater shame could there be than this: that the world's largest democracy is today in the grip of the world's most undemocratic and anti-democracy political party."

BJP On Protest Developments

BJP National General Secretary Radha Mohan Agarwal said the Union government had handled the protest “with extreme sensitivity". While people have the right to protest in a democracy, he said, "the life of the protester also has to be taken care of".

Agarwal noted that the government had not intervened during Wangchuk's 20-day fast but acted after medical reports indicated his health was deteriorating. "Taking him to the hospital has nothing to do with the proposed march on July 20. It is exclusively concerning his health condition," he said.

On the planned march to Parliament, Agarwal said Wangchuk had announced it and that the final decision rested with him. "We will see what he decides," he added.

Criticising the role of the CJP leadership in the hunger strike, Agarwal said that if the leaders had been serious about the protest, "they should have gone on hunger strike themselves from the beginning". Instead, he alleged, they had asked "an old man" to undertake the fast while they themselves were young and energetic. Quoting a Hindi proverb, "Chad ja beta sooli par", Agarwal remarked that it was now their turn to “climb the cross”, a colloquial expression suggesting that they should now bear the burden themselves.  

According to BJP sources, the government machinery acted only in compliance with the Delhi High Court's directions. A party functionary said the BJP respects the democratic right to protest.

BJP National IT Department head Amit Malviya also defended the move in a post on X, saying the authorities shifted Wangchuk to the hospital after his health deteriorated during the fast to ensure he received timely medical care.

“Would the Opposition have preferred that his condition worsen merely to sustain a political spectacle? Ensuring timely medical care in a situation like this is the responsible course of action, not a matter for manufactured controversy,” he posted.

AAP Slams Government Response

Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar accused the BJP-led Centre of being “completely disconnected from the ground” and unable to hear the voice of the youth. Sonam Wangchuk's protest is aimed at bringing reforms to the current education system, which suffers immensely under the Modi government.

She alleged that the Modi government had, "in its arrogance", is trying to dismiss the voice of students and suppress the voice of reason". Referring to the Prime Minister's outreach programmes, Kakkar said, "Modi does a lot of Mann Ki Baat and Pariksha Pe Charcha, but stays completely away from jan ki baat and paper leak per charcha."

Calling it a "coward government", Kakkar claimed police personnel in civilian clothes forcibly removed the protesters to prevent their planned march to Parliament on July 20. Modi should know that India is the land of Gandhi and whenever dissent has been attempted to be crushed by the govt, it only grows exponentially. Lakhs will now join the march to the Parliament on July 20," she said.

Notably, the CJP emerged in May as an online satirical campaign against paper leaks and other irregularities in India's major examinations, quickly attracting a large following on social media. Its supporters, who identify themselves as "cockroaches", have been protesting since June 6 at Jantar Mantar. Several student organisations, including AISA and SFI, have also joined the protest and the hunger strike.