Rahul Gandhi's Absence from Sonam Wangchuk's Hunger Strike Sparks Row

Activist Sonam Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike at the Cockroach Janta Party protest at Jantar Mantar for almost three weeks now. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's absence from the site has become a separate story, drawing jibes from Wangchuk, a lengthy defence from a Congress leader and a rebuttal from CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on X. Meanwhile, Rahul's calendar points to the next stop in his own campaign on the same issues, which is also pressing for Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over paper leaks and exam-related irregularities.

A month after it was launched in Rajasthan's Kota, Rahul's ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ will next be held in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on July 17. The venue was changed at short notice after the state administration withdrew its earlier clearance.

Dehradun Venue Dispute

Rahul also posted a video asking, “Modi ji, are you rattled?”, over the venue-change row with the BJP government. Speaking in Hindi, he said: “Narendra Modi has taken a decision, that in the next 4-5 days, he wants to divert [public] attention by doing something or the other. You should not let him divert your attention. Unemployment is the biggest issue… future of 2 crore youths has been ruined.”

Uttarakhand Congress unit president Ganesh Godiyal confirmed on Wednesday that the Dehradun event, originally planned for Parade Ground, will now be held at Bannu School ground. He told reporters that the party had deposited fees and secured permission for July 15, 16 and 17, only for the administration to cancel it citing the extension of another event at the ground. The state and Centre's ruling BJP accused Congress of playing a “false victim card” over the dispute.

Rahul launched ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ (Echoing Voice of Students) from Kota on June 17. Three follow-up events — Prayagraj, Patna and Delhi — were deferred after he reportedly extended a foreign trip. The BJP took digs at it, even implying a “foreign conspiracy”.

Rahul's first reported engagement upon return was a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal on July 14 evening, reportedly on issues in the party's Punjab unit.

Debating Opposition Absence

Not far away from there, Wangchuk's fast continued under the CJP protest that began on June 28 over the same paper-leak and NEET-related grievances. Wangchuk has refused to end the fast, despite being in “immense pain”, with his weight loss now past 8 kg.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, in a post on X on Wednesday morning, pushed back on the “where is Rahul” narrative altogether. Rather than asking why Opposition leaders or CJP's own team members weren't fasting alongside Wangchuk, he said, “ask the questions that actually matter”.

“Why is the Prime Minister refusing to engage in a dialogue? Why is the Education Minister still not being held accountable? These are the questions that deserve answers, not distractions that only help shield those in power from accountability,” he wrote on X.

The government's response has been dismissive at best, while Pradhan has branded the CJP “B-team of terrorists”. BJP president Nitin Nabin has attacked “virus and cockroach-like parties… [that] want to divide the country”.

Dipke, meanwhile, thanked a string of opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, NCP's Rohit Pawar and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, for either visiting the site or extending solidarity. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was among those who got a thank-you note for promising to raise their issues in Parliament.

Wangchuk, however, told Indian Express Hindi a day earlier that it would reflect “great pettiness” if top Opposition leaders stayed away. He was asked pointedly about Rahul Gandhi, and he said the public would “reject” leaders who did not express solidarity over genuine issues.

Congress Defends Rahul

This framing drew a response from Gujarat Congress Working President Jignesh Mevani on X; he rejected the idea that Congress had ignored the protest. He said the party had not said anything negative about Wangchuk or the protesting youth.

Mevani underlined that the Congress's student wing NSUI and the Youth Congress faced water cannons and lathis while protesting paper leaks in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states. He pointed to Rahul's ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ too as evidence that the Congress has been “walking with the youth every step”.

Mevani listed further instances of Rahul's past engagement with grieving families and affected communities across issues, such as the Mandsaur farmer killings and Wayanad's landslide, and with students affected by recent issues. “Consistent solidarity without turning grief into spectacle,” he wrote. He said the Congress protests and Wangchuk's fast should be seen as complementary rather than competing.

Rahul has in the past spoken out for Ladakh's statehood movement, too, which Wangchuk co-led and was jailed over for six months recently. After police firing in Leh killed four people on September 24, 2025, and Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act, Rahul said the government had “betrayed the people of Ladakh” and demanded a judicial inquiry into the deaths. Wangchuk was released from Jodhpur jail on March 14, 2026.

Rahul's Dehradun event is set to go ahead at Bannu School ground on July 17, with four more city legs of ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ reportedly planned before Independence Day, August 15. The CJP, meanwhile, has said it expects a response from the Modi government by July 20, the opening day of Parliament's Monsoon Session. It has planned a march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament that day.