Indian police forcibly hospitalise activist after 20-day hunger strike 

Police have forcibly removed a prominent activist from a protest site in New Delhi and taken him to hospital, saying his health was deteriorating from a hunger strike over alleged corruption in India’s exam system.

Sonam Wangchuk, 59, was removed on Saturday from the protest site at the Jantar Mantar, a park housing large 18th-century astronomical devices, 20 days into a fast that has become a focal point of a campaign by mainly youthful activists demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.

The protest movement, which calls itself the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), emerged in May after a chief justice on India’s Supreme Court likened some unemployed young people to “cockroaches”. Initially it mainly involved satirical online memes, but hundreds of students and activists have gathered at the Jantar Mantar since Wangchuk began his hunger strike on June 28.

Wangchuk was “shifted to hospital for essential medical care” on the orders of the High Court following expert advice from doctors, a New Delhi police deputy commissioner said in a statement.

“While complying with the orders … the protestors tried to create obstruction, in which slight commotion ensued,” the statement said. “We request the protestors at Jantar Mantar to peacefully vacate the place at the earliest.”

A few hours before his enforced hospitalisation, Wangchuk wrote on X: “Smaller Movements have brought down many governments in India… & Here it is about education.”

An engineer by training, Wangchuk is best known for pioneering water conservation projects in the Himalayas.

India’s national examination system has come under intense public criticism over allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

About 2.2 million aspiring doctors had to retake India’s annual medical entrance exam under heavy security last month after the original test in May was cancelled after the questions were leaked. The popular messaging app Telegram was temporarily banned by the government to try to prevent further leaks.

Students who had been struggling with months of stress and long hours of study ahead of the exam were outraged when they learned the initial test was voided and they had to do it all over again. More than a dozen were reported to have died by suicide.

Young Indians disillusioned with the government’s education and employment policies adopted the cockroach insult as an ironic badge of honour. Their campaign drew more than 21 million Instagram followers within days.

As well as the resignation of the education minister, the movement is also demanding an overhaul of the examination system and compensation for the families of students who have taken their lives.

The CJP said on social media on Saturday that the government had “forcefully abducted” Wangchuk without his or his family’s consent.

CPJ founder Abhijeet Dipke said at the protest site that the government had made a “grave mistake” and pledged to go on “indefinite hunger strike starting today”.

Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo said in a post on X that she was with her husband at Safdarjung Hospital and insisted he would continue his hunger strike.

“Nothing should be administered to him orally or intravenously without consent from me, his family, and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days,” she told reporters at the hospital.

She said that although she was “grateful that the government cared enough to bring him here”, Wangchuk and his family wanted no enforced medical treatment.

“We will handle the next steps ourselves,” she said. “There is no need for government interference in this matter. He is definitely weak and losing muscle mass – which happens during any fast – but he is alert and very strong.”

Authorities deployed additional police and paramilitary personnel and erected barricades around the protest site and the hospital. Police said the heightened security was precautionary and urged protesters to cooperate.

Further demonstrations are planned at the site to coincide with the start of the Indian parliament’s session on Monday.