NEW DELHI, July 18 (Reuters) – Authorities in India’s capital Delhi have moved fasting social activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital after his condition worsened on the 21st day of a hunger strike he launched to demand the resignation of the federal education minister.
Wangchuk, 59, has been fasting since June 28 in solidarity with India’s youth Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down over exam paper leaks in May that affected millions of students.
Police in Delhi said Wangchuk was moved to a hospital “for essential medical care” on court orders after his health worsened on Saturday.
On Thursday, the Delhi High Court asked authorities to watch his health closely and intervene if needed, in response to a petition asking authorities to force-feed him as his health weakened.
Protesters from the CJP said they would march to India’s parliament on July 20, when the monsoon session begins, to press their demand for Pradhan’s resignation and seek exam reforms.
Wangchuk has been at the centre of CJP’s protests, lying on a mattress in the middle of a stage, as supporters and visitors to the protest site mill about.
Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government accused Wangchuk of inciting people through what it said were provocative statements during violent protests in the federal Himalayan territory of Ladakh, to which he belongs.
Wangchuk spent about six months in jail before being released in March this year. He has denied the allegations against him, and said the violent protests were a reflection of the frustration with the federal government.
On the third day of his fast, Wangchuk told Reuters his fast would last six weeks unless he died first.
“But hopefully, we don’t have to go that far,” he had said. “A sensitive government in a democracy listens to the pains of the people, and I hope they will take action.”
(Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Additional reporting by Shubham Kalia; Editing by YP Rajesh and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
