Sonam Wangchuk hunger strike LIVE: Wangchuk refuses medical intervention at hospital; Dipke holds indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar

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Even if Sonam can't join the July 20 march to Parliament, I will represent him and lead that march, says wife Gitanjali Angmo

Updated - July 18, 2026 05:06 pm IST

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke holds a portrait of environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk after announcing his own indefinite hunger strike following Wangchuk's hospitalisation, in New Delhi on July 18, 2026 | Photo Credit: ANI

Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday (July 18, 2026) announced an indefinite hunger strike, shortly after educator and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly removed from New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and shifted to Safdarjung hospital as his hunger strike entered day 21.

New Delhi DCP’s office said that Mr. Wangchuk has been shifted to the hospital for ‘essential medical care’ as per the orders of the Delhi High Court and on expert medical advise due to his deteriorating health condition. Mr. Wangchuk has refused intravenous fluids, oral rehydration solution and other medications despite signs of dehydration and metabolic abnormalities, hospital authorities said.

WATCH | Cockroach Janta Party: How did a social media satire turn into one of India’s biggest protests?

Mr. Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J. Angmo said she was at the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi where the activist has been admitted. “Nothing should be administered to him orally or intravenous without take consent from me, his family and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days,” Ms. Gitanjali said.

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Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke addressed protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar after being released from detention. “This antic by the RSS goons, of carrying Sonam-ji out... if they think this will end the protest, it won’t. We will stay right here. And we will march to Parliament from right here on July 20,” Mr. Dipke told the students.

Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke’s father expressed concern over his son sitting on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, and asked how the government could be so “merciless” to the students who are Indian nationals, and not Pakistanis.

Claiming that students are on indefinite hunger strikes in various parts of the country, Bhagwan Dipke asked whether the government is waiting for someone to die.

He accused the government of not listening to demands raised by students and threatened to join his son’s indefinite fast.

“As a father, I am concerned about Abhijeet. I pray that God should give wisdom to Narendra Modi, who is sitting on the throne, so that better sense prevails and the government listens to the agitating students. In various parts of the country, students are on a hunger strike.

“Is the government waiting for someone to die? How many people should die for them? He has no mercy. If he is a human being, he should listen to the students,” Bhagwan Dipke said while targeting the prime minister.

He added that if the government doesn’t listen to students, “we will also go to the agitation site and launch a hunger strike in Delhi”.

“The detention of Sonam Wangchuk, Abhijeet Deepke and others is an attack on the constitutional right to dissent. They must be released immediately and unconditionally,” former Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said in a post on X.

Following Sonam Wangchuk’s removal from the protest site, student activists held a protest in Mumbai. Visuals below:

Haryana Congress president Rao Narendra Singh condemned the “forcible removal” of Ladakh-based social activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was on a hunger strike, from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, calling it a direct attack on democracy and the Constitution.

In a statement, Mr. Rao said every citizen has the constitutional right to express their views peacefully and that suppressing a peaceful protest by force was against democratic values.

“Repeated paper leaks and the absence of strict action against those responsible had undermined the confidence of students who spend years preparing for competitive examinations,” Mr. Rao added.

“The removal of Sonam Wangchuk ji from Jantar Mantar while he was on a non-violent hunger strike is wrong,” Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said reacting to the removal of the activist from the protest site.