Veteran Indian Activist Launches Hunger Strike to Support Generation‑Z Education Protests

For 19 days, veteran Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike in New Delhi, bolstering a youth‑led demonstration that calls for justice for millions of students across the country.

“Victims never raise their own voice,” said Wangchuk, who has been surviving on salted water since June 28. “This time, for a change, young people are speaking up. How could I not support them?”

The protest, led by the Cockroach Janta Party—a movement that began as a satirical response to a judge’s derogatory remark likening India’s youth to cockroaches—gained traction after the government cancelled the nationwide medical college entrance exam in May following a question‑paper leak. The incident sparked outrage among young Indians.

The C.J.P. swiftly turned into a platform for India’s Generation Z to voice grievances over educational mismanagement and job scarcity. Within two months it has morphed into a broader movement demanding accountability and reforms to the country’s fiercely competitive examination system for university admissions and government employment.

Wangchuk and the C.J.P. are also demanding the resignation of India’s education minister.

Why did he start the hunger strike?

In a telephone interview from the protest site on Wednesday, Wangchuk—a long‑time education‑reform campaigner—said the C.J.P. movement echoed the cause he first championed decades ago.

“I have not chosen this issue today,” Wangchuk said, speaking in a low but steady voice. “I chose this issue 40 years ago when I decided to work in the field of education.”

Online images show Wangchuk resting on a mattress in a beige T‑shirt.

He has lost about 9 kg (≈20 lb), but doctors monitoring his health say his vital signs remain good, according to a statement by the C.J.P.

Numerous public figures, including writer Arundhati Roy, have expressed solidarity.

What does he expect to achieve?

Wangchuk argues that risking one’s life carries moral weight when democratic channels have been exhausted. He says ending his fast would begin with accountability for the systemic failures that have devastated students—some of whom have taken their own lives—following the exam cancellation, and with concrete changes to the examination system.

His protest is intended both to influence the government and to mobilize the public.

The government has yet to respond to Wangchuk’s demand for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. In a recent TV interview Pradhan dismissed the protests, labeling the C.J.P. the “B‑team of disruptive elements.”

“Awakening public opinion and persuading those in power are two sides of the same coin,” Wangchuk said. “When you awaken the public, you bring change into governments. They care about public opinion. They may not care about my health.”

By Thursday, as his health waned, calls grew for Wangchuk to end his fast. He urged supporters to attend a new rally scheduled for July 20.

How did he become an activist?

At 59, Wangchuk is a mechanical engineer who has also worked as an educator, environmentalist and activist. Hailing from Ladakh—a strategically sensitive, ecologically fragile Himalayan region near India’s border with China—he has fought for stronger central‑government protection of the area’s land, jobs and environment.

After Ladakh was removed from Jammu and Kashmir and placed under direct central rule in 2019, Wangchuk has continued to advocate for his community’s rights.

He has a history of prolonged fasts, previously demanding constitutional reforms and environmental safeguards for Ladakh. In March 2024 he announced a 21‑day hunger strike—the longest he has undertaken.

Why is education important to him?

Wangchuk’s passion for education stems from his own upbringing. Born in Uleytokpo—a remote Ladakhi village without a school—he was taught by his mother in the local language. When he later attended school in Srinagar, the instruction was in Urdu, a language he did not know, and teachers mistakenly attributed his struggle to a lack of ability.

After earning a mechanical‑engineering degree in 1987, he co‑founded the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, which established an alternative school to prevent Ladakhi youths from confronting the same language barriers.

The school grew into one of India’s most respected alternative education providers and earned Wangchuk the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2018—an accolade often described as Asia’s Nobel Peace Prize.

He is also widely recognized in India as the real‑life inspiration for the character Phunsukh Wangdu in the popular Bollywood film “3 Idiots.”

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