New Delhi | The Congress on Thursday appealed to activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his indefinite hunger strike and asserted that "his concerns are our concerns" and it will continue to demand the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.
Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said, "Shri Sonam Wangchuk has now been on a hunger strike for 19 days, demanding the resignation of the Union Education Minister. The Indian National Congress has been making this very demand for over a month and a half."
"We share the anguish and outrage that Shri Wangchuk ji feels, especially due to the lack of accountability within the Modi Govt - for the collapse of the examination system in particular," Venugopal said in a post on X.
"In view of his health condition, we appeal to Shri Wangchuk to end his fast. His concerns are our concerns and that of other Opposition parties as well. Rest assured, we will continue to confront the Modi government and demand the Education Minister’s resignation," the Congress leader said.
Asked about Wangchuk's fast at a press conference earlier, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said his party has been demanding Pradhan's resignation for the last two months.
He said that many other people have also been demanding Pradhan's resignation and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi demanded this on June 17 in Kota and will do so in Dehradun on Friday when he interacts with students.
Wangchuk's weight loss crossed nine kilograms on the 19th day of his indefinite hunger strike on Thursday, with doctors warning that he had entered a critical stage and that the prolonged fast could begin affecting his organs.
In a video message released late Wednesday night, Wangchuk ruled out ending his fast despite appeals from political leaders and supporters, saying doing so without any response from the government would send the wrong message.
Instead, he urged people to strengthen the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) proposed Parliament march on July 20.
Support for the agitation continued to pour in, with farmer leader Rakesh Tikait announcing that he would visit Wangchuk at Jantar Mantar on Thursday evening. Music composer Vishal Dadlani, actor Sayaji Shinde and author Shobhaa De also appealed to the government to engage in dialogue with the activist and expressed concern over his deteriorating health.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court directed authorities to monitor Wangchuk's health on a daily basis and provide medical intervention whenever required, observing that "the life of any citizen is precious". The Centre and the Delhi government told the court they had no objection to regular medical monitoring.
The Cockroach Janta Party has been protesting at Jantar Mantar demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination and has called for a Parliament march on July 20, the first day of the Monsoon session.
New Delhi | AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal met climate activist Sonam Wangchuk at the Jantar Mantar on Thursday and expressed solidarity with his protest against alleged paper leaks, demanding resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Addressing the protest, Kejriwal said the Centre should listen to the youth, students and Wangchuk, asserting that their concerns over repeated examination paper leaks should not go ignored.
"Every year, exam papers get leaked and youth pay the price. I appeal government to listen to students and Wangchuk," the former Delhi chief minister said.
He urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to step down, and suggested Wangchuk be made the country's education minister.
Recalling his own experience, Kejriwal said,"While coming here today, I was reminded of April 4, 2011, when I sat at this very place with Anna Hazare during the anti-corruption movement. Three years later, that government lost power because it failed to listen and allowed arrogance to overtake accountability."
Kejriwal said young people from across the country had come together to demand reforms in the examination system, and commended them for raising their voice for a fair and transparent education system.
Praising Wangchuk, he said the activist was not fighting for himself but for students, young people and children across the country.
Referring to Wangchuk's indefinite hunger strike, Kejriwal said he had put his own life at stake for the cause and expressed respect for everyone participating in the movement, including those who have faced persecution and other hardships.
Mumbai | Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Thursday supported educationist Sonam Wangchuk's demands, and alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre seemed to have decided to get rid of Wangchuk as well as the "space for protest in the country".
Transparency is essential not only in NEET but in all examinations, Thackeray said in a social media post, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay attention to the issue.
The controversy related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test was no trivial matter and the irregularities have jeopardised the future of lakhs of students, Thackeray said.
"The reports regarding his (Wangchuk's) health and the visuals on television are certainly alarming. It is deeply distressing to say this, but it appears the government has decided to get rid of Sonam Wangchuk, and by extension, the very space for protest in this country," Thackeray said.
"The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena fully supports Sonam Wangchuk's demands. Transparency is essential not just in NEET, but across all examinations, and the ministers responsible must resign," Thackeray said.
The NEET paper leak was not an isolated incident as such things had occurred in the past too, the MNS chief said. During the BJP's tenure, irregularities in examinations have been rampant, he alleged, citing the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and the latest leak of teacher eligibility test papers in Maharashtra.
BJP supporters too must have suffered due to such incidents, and therefore it was a sign of the BJP's shortsightedness that it was viewing the agitation at Jantar Mantar through a political lens, he said.
Wangchuk joined the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)'s protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on June 28 and has been on an indefinite hunger strike since then against alleged examination irregularities and to press for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.
The institutions that are supposed to function independently are being captured and elections are being manipulated to suit specific agendas, the MNS chief further alleged in the post, adding that the mainstream media by and large was failing to question the source of the huge amounts of money being spent for this.
He also noted that there was a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held Sonam Wangchuk in high regard. The saffron party values an individual as long as it suits its purposes, he said.
When Wangchuk demanded statehood for Ladakh, two Lok Sabha constituencies and the protection of local people's land rights, the government took no action, Thackeray said.
The MNS chief, however, also noted that the CJP's protests were being driven by social media algorithms and had become trapped in a cycle of memes, reels, the quest for engagement, dancing with flags and songs to garner 'likes', and chasing 'million-like' milestones.
Civil society in the country is also getting caught up in this trend and people have developed an unwarranted disdain for politics. As a result, a large, enlightened section of society has distanced itself from politics, getting stuck instead in the pursuit of likes and shares on social media, Raj Thackeray said.
