\n<\/p>\n
The air is hot and humid, and the perspiration doesn’t dry up. Forget ACs, there are no fans even as the temperature soars. The whole area smells of sweat, and the toilets stink. One night at the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest site at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was enough to make me realise the harsh conditions in which activist Sonam Wangchuk was holding his indefinite fast. That fast entered its 19th day on Thursday.<\/p>\n
While the young leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) take turns to stay at the protest site, recharging themselves, Wangchuk is a constant presence. An iPad and a table fan for comfort.<\/p>\n
Even if Wangchuk has a morsel today, like many prominent people from diverse fields is appealoing him to, it won’t take away anything from his agitation.<\/p>\n
I say this not as a detached observer, but after the night at the protest site. Earlier, I had stepped into the shoes of a demonstrator, a cockroach, rather than reporting as a journalist. My conclusion \u2014 holding an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi’s current weather is extraordinarily difficult. The heat, the humidity, and sudden spells of rain constantly test everyone present at the protest site.<\/p>\n
Click here to read the article based on my experience of a full night at the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar.<\/strong><\/p>\n And that is what kept bringing my thoughts back to Wangchuk, who has endured those same conditions without food for nearly three weeks.<\/p>\n As of the time of publication, it has been 19 days since Wangchuk last ate<\/strong>. The 59-year-old activist has become the face of the movement that emerged from anger over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak controversy and broader frustrations with the education system.<\/p>\n Politicians, actors, authors and other public figures have appealed to Wangchuk to end his fast<\/strong>. He has remained defiant, insisting that he wants dialogue with the Narendra Modi government.<\/p>\n “I’m not in good shape but not so bad either,” Wangchuk said in a video message on Wednesday. “Rather than asking me to break my fast, please join me on 20th July for the peaceful March to the Parliament,” he said.<\/p>\n The 59-year-old activist urged supporters not to ask him to end his fast but instead join the march to Parliament on July 20.<\/p>\n The Delhi High Court had earlier on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government<\/strong> on a PIL seeking urgent medical aid for Wangchuk. The petitioner described the situation as one in which a social activist was “virtually committing Harakiri” in front of the nation.<\/p>\n Those developments only reinforced what I had begun to conclude after that night at Jantar Mantar: Wangchuk has already achieved what many hunger strikes hope to. He has captured the nation’s attention and forced a national conversation.<\/p>\n The movement’s broader demands have found national resonance, and the CJP protest has gathered enough momentum to continue even if Wangchuk ends his hunger strike. He will likely remain the face of the protest either way.<\/p>\n The reasons I believe Wangchuk should end his fast are not ideological. They are painfully physical.<\/p>\n When I reached Jantar Mantar on Tuesday evening, one thing became clear immediately: most visitors were there because of Sonam Wangchuk. They had come to express solidarity with the man who had gone weeks without food while demanding accountability in the education system.<\/p>\n The movement took shape amid public outrage over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak<\/strong>. More than 22 lakh students had appeared for the exam, which was later cancelled following allegations of a paper leak. A nationwide retest on June 21, coupled with reports of student suicides in the intervening weeks, further intensified criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis.<\/p>\n Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant’s remarks referring to unemployed youth<\/strong> as “parasites” and “cockroaches” added fuel to the agony. The comments sparked widespread backlash and inspired Abhijeet Dipke, then in Boston, to set up the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).<\/p>\n Within weeks, young protesters wearing cockroach masks began gathering at Jantar Mantar, demanding accountability and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.<\/p>\n Wangchuk joined the first CJP protest on June 6<\/strong>, and later announced an indefinite hunger strike.<\/p>\n After my third visit to the protest site, one conclusion stood out \u2014 the movement now revolves largely around one man. Even the security personnel at Jantar Mantar seemed to share that view.<\/p>\n “People are coming to see Wangchuk,” a Rapid Action Force (RAF) jawan standing near the barricades told me while watching the crowd swell. “The crowd is because of him,” he added.<\/p>\n People came and went. But after two earlier visits and one full night at the protest site, I got a glimpse of the physical toll Delhi’s weather can take. If one night left me drained, it is difficult to imagine what nearly three weeks without food must have done to Wangchuk’s body.<\/p>\n My earlier visits to the protest site had been during peak summer<\/strong>, and I always returned exhausted. Before this visit, I assumed arriving in the evening would be easier, with the sun already down.<\/p>\n But I was wrong.<\/p>\n The sun might have set, but the heat lingered. The humidity remained stifling well into the night. Sitting among the protesters, I couldn’t stop thinking about Wangchuk and the others who had chosen to fast.<\/p>\n Wangchuk remained on that stage around the clock, surviving only on water and, reportedly, electrolytes. Watching the weather wear down people who were eating normally<\/strong> made the severity of his fast all the more striking.<\/p>\n Around 1 am, I overheard a conversation that drew me in. For the first time that night, I heard protesters openly criticising some of the CJP’s most prominent faces, including its founder, Abhijeet Dipke.<\/p>\n The main stage had fallen silent. Wangchuk slept on a thin mattress while a handful of volunteers kept watch nearby. The prominent faces of the CJP like Saurav Das, Ashuthosh Ranka and Vijeta Dahiya, who had addressed crowds earlier in the day, were nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n “Someone from among them should stay with Sonam Sir,” one protester said.<\/p>\n “This shows they are not serious about the protest,” an elderly man added.<\/p>\n Others in the group defended the absent leaders, arguing that they had been present throughout the day and were entitled to rest.<\/p>\n It was a fair point, and one that was difficult to dismiss.<\/p>\n As I looked beyond the discussion about who was or wasn’t present, something else struck me even more.<\/p>\n What affected me most was not Wangchuk’s condition alone, but also around 10 other protesters who are also on an indefinite hunger strike<\/strong>. Yet, somehow, they remained largely out of the spotlight.<\/p>\n Bahadhur Singh has travelled from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh. He has been on a hunger strike for the past 16 days as this report was being published. “I came here for the nation and will not return home until I achieve my motives,” Singh told India Today Digital.<\/p>\n Beside him sat Deepak Yadav from Lucknow, who had completed 10 days of hunger strike at the time of publication of this report, along with several others who had only recently begun fasting.<\/p>\n A little farther away were Aameen, Neha and Manish, associated with the AISA students’ outfit. They have been on an indefinite fast for 18 days as this report was being published.<\/p>\n Their names are not trending online. Their videos were not circulating widely.<\/p>\n Yet they are enduring the same weather and facing the same uncertainty as Sonam Wangchuk.<\/p>\n Later, CJP leaders invited all the fasting protesters onto the main stage and urged them to end their fast so they could collectively persuade Wangchuk to do the same.<\/p>\n None accepted the request. They chose to continue their hunger strike.<\/p>\n As I walked away from Jantar Mantar after sunrise, one thought stayed with me: even if Sonam Wangchuk broke his fast, it would take nothing away from the protest. Wangchuk’s fast had drawn the nation’s attention to exams, accountability and the distress of students and young people. Wangchuk’s fast has managed to do what Dipke failed to. Ending his fast would not weaken that conversation. It might simply spare a 59-year-old activist from paying a physical price for a message the country has already heard.<\/p>\n – Ends<\/p>\n Published By: <\/p>\n Avinash Kateel<\/p>\n Published On: <\/p>\n Jul 16, 2026 12:22 IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The air is hot and humid, and the perspiration doesn’t dry up. Forget ACs, there are no fans even as the temperature soars. The whole area smells of sweat, and the toilets stink. One night at the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest site at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was enough to make me realise the harsh 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NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The air is hot and humid, and the perspiration doesn’t dry up. Forget ACs, there are no fans even as the temperature soars. The whole area smells of sweat, and the toilets stink. One night at the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest site at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was enough to make me realise the harsh…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36910,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36908\/revisions\/36910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}WHEN WILL SONAM WANGCHUK END HIS FAST?<\/h3>\n
HOW A FASTING SONAM WANGCHUK HAS BECOME THE FACE OF CJP PROTEST<\/h3>\n
WHY DELHI’S WEATHER MAKES WANGCHUK’S FAST EVEN HARDER<\/h3>\n
AFTER MIDNIGHT, THE STAGE GREW QUIET AROUND WANGCHUK<\/h3>\n
THE OTHER HUNGER STRIKERS BEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT<\/h3>\n