Sonam Wangchuk’s decision to join CJP protest organic, says wife Gitanjali Angmo

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Sonam Wangchuk wanted to ensure that the CJP’s cause is not sabotaged by “nefarious” elements, and the movement does not go astray, says his wife Gitanjali J. Angmo

Published - July 16, 2026 04:40 am IST - New Delhi

File picture of Gitanjali J. Angmo | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

Climate-activist Sonam Wangchuk’s decision to join the protest started by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) was “organic”, his wife Gitanjali J. Angmo said.

Ms. Angmo told The Hindu that since CJP is a youth-led movement, Mr. Wangchuk wanted to ensure that the cause is not sabotaged by “nefarious” elements and the movement does not go astray.

The protest at Jantar Mantar against irregularities in the NEET examination and to seek the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan entered its 26th day on Wednesday.

“He is passionate about education. When he came to know about the social media movement and the discontent of the youth, he connected with the issue. It all happened in an organic way. He wants to hand-hold them and wants every well-meaning person to join the movement,” Ms. Angmo said.

Before joining the CJP protest, Mr. Wangchuk was involved in a movement initiated by Ladakh’s civil society leaders to demand constitutional safeguards such as statehood and inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, thus giving it a tribal status. On May 22, he attended a meeting at the Union Home Ministry to give shape to the demands, for which he spent 170 days in jail.

Mr. Wangchuk was released on March 14 after the Ministry revoked the National Security Act slapped on him. He was detained under the Act, through which an individual can be held for a year without trial, following the violence in Leh city on September 24, 2025, which left four people dead. The education reformer, who inspired the Hindi movie 3 Idiots (2009), was labelled by the police as the “ringleader” of the violence.

Ms. Angmo said that Mr. Wangchuk felt committed to the CJP’s cause as nobody has the potential to take on the government. “Whenever someone raises their voice, raids by government agencies follow. He wants to be the third voice. This is a genuine issue, resignation (of the Minister) is the first step to accountability. Students committed suicides following the paper leak,” she said.

Before he was detained, the Ladakh administration cancelled the land allotted to the Himalayan Institute of Alternative Learning, founded by Ms. Angmo and Mr. Wangchuk in 2018. Soon, the Ministry cancelled the FCRA registration of Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, a school which he had founded in 1988 for students who failed the board examinations.

Ms. Angmo said that the longest Mr. Wangchuk has fasted is for 21 days, adding that the climatic conditions in Ladakh are different than Delhi, which is hot and humid. “He is surviving on salt and water, even though he has completed 17 days of hunger strike here, it feels like 34 days of hunger strike in Ladakh. He never lost muscle mass there, the weather is punishing in Delhi,” she said.

According to the medical bulletin issued by the CJP, Mr. Wangchuk remains “very weak” and is under 24-hour medical vigilance. His weight has fallen to 57.15 kg, a drop of 400 grams in the last 24 hours, taking his total weight loss since the beginning of the fast to 8.9 kg. His blood pressure was recorded at 105/76, blood sugar at 80 mg/dL, and oxygen saturation at 97%, while hydration was described as fair.

Winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2018, Mr. Wangchuk was instrumental in the launch of Operation New Hope, a triangular collaboration of the government, village communities and civil society to bring reforms in the government school system in 1994.

Since there was no school in his village, he was home-schooled by his single mother in Ladakhi language till the age of nine. His uncle, who followed Islam, taught him English and Urdu through radio and billboards. “My uncle read the Quran and made me read Buddhist scriptures,” he had said in an interview.

Published - July 16, 2026 04:40 am IST

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