Social activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike entered its 18th day on Wednesday, with indicators stabilizing but declining. Conveying his message to those pleading with him to stop, Abhijit Deepki of the Kokroche Janta Party, the satirical party that started the protest, said Wangchuk told him: “Ask the government why they are not even having a dialogue.”
The refusal to participate – over demands for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan – is the latest chapter in a relationship that was once warm enough that the minister described it as “wonderful”.
A friendly meeting and then a warning
On March 15, 2023, Wangchuk and his wife Gitanjali Angmu – his co-founder of the Himalayan Institute for Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL) – met Pradhan in Delhi. Pradhan posted on Wangchuk shared his post at the time and thanked him for being “so open to innovative ideas in education.”
The warmth with the Modi regime did not last, as is also evident from Wangchuk’s subsequent six-month imprisonment for demanding more rights in Ladakh in 2025-26.
Angmo referenced the 2023 meeting in a recent interview, noting that Pradhan “proudly tweeted about our meeting with him.” But she claimed that when she met him again in November 2024, he told her that HIAL’s file with the University Grants Commission (UGC) for recognition would remain frozen as long as Wangchuk continued to press for his Ladakh demands.
By August 2025, the Ladakh administration had canceled HIAL’s 40-year land lease. Wangchuk described the cancellation as a “witch hunt” aimed at silencing his efforts for statehood and constitutional guarantees for Ladakh.
by the time Wangchuk joined the CJP protest in June, and the demand for Pradhan’s resignation carried this personal history along with the fresh controversy over NEET-UG paper leak and CBSE paper examination system irregularities.
Wangchuk, a millennial hero whose life as a scientific innovator inspired a character in an Aamir Khan film. “3 Idiots” (2009) insisted that his support for the Generation Z-focused CJP party depended on “staying out of politics.” But he added that if senior opposition leaders, such as the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, did not turn up to support him, it would be a “huge nonsense”.
But the government’s response has meanwhile become more severe, with Pradhan himself describing the CJP as the “second team of terrorists”. BJP president Nitin Nabin attacked “parties that are like viruses and cockroaches… [that] “They want to divide the country.”
From Ladakh to Delhi, via Jail
Pradhan’s relationship did not sour in isolation.
When the Center abrogated Article 370 in August 2019 to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, Wangchuk was among those who welcomed the bifurcation of Ladakh as a union territory. Wangchuk had directly thanked the Prime Minister “for realizing the long-standing dream of Ladakh”.
These sentiments changed when Ladakhis lost the land protections and jobs that had previously existed under the Jammu and Kashmir government, and by 2022, the region’s leadership — the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — had consolidated four demands. These were state grants, setting up of the Sixth Schedule for the protection of tribal areas, Lok Sabha seats, and a dedicated Public Service Commission.
On September 24, 2025, Statehood protests in Leh turned violent and four demonstrators were killed in police firing. The local office of the BJP was burnt down.
Wangchuk condemned this violent transformation. But the center was not convinced.
The Union Home Ministry, led by Amit Shah, blamed Wangchuk’s speech, and police said he was inciting… Generation Z-like protests in Nepal and Bangladesh – and he was arrested under the national security law two days later.
That is, in February 2025, just eight months before the NSA arrest, Wangchuk praised Modi from a stage in Islamabad, Pakistan. Angmo later recalled that moment while rejecting the accusations against him, asking why he was praising Modi if he was “anti-national”.
Their institute HIAL has won the Union Ministry of Renewable Energy award for solar building designs. Angmo has cited this honor, along with Wangchuk’s 2018 Magsaysay Award, repeatedly: “If SONAM is anti-national, does the government give anti-national people?”
After an agitation-related arrest in Ladakh in 2025, Wangchuk spent nearly six months in a Jodhpur jail, and was only released in March 2026. He struck a conciliatory note at a press conference afterward, saying the talks would produce results.
Some thaw on state demand
After Amit Shah visited Ladakh from April 30 to May 1, Wangchuk claimed to have told him: “Ladakh is concerned about democratic rights and guarantees.” He said he expected to have an open conversation, “but it was limited to discussing matters Sacred Relics (Buddha) and Development,” with the core policy demands being pushed to the subcommittee meeting on May 22.
But this meeting produced a real movement. The LAB and KDA said they have reached a tentative understanding with the Center on constitutional guarantees through Article 371 – a provision already applicable to Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram with respect to certain guarantees and rights. Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra described it as a “positive movement forward” and said the negotiations took place in a constructive environment, HT reported.
By Monday this week, the Center said Ladakh will get one hill council for all the seven districts, as well as a “UT-level umbrella body” under a “dedicated Article 371 framework” that has “no parallel anywhere else in the country”.
Wangchuk, who had earlier “expressed hope” for the Article 371 proposal, has yet to comment on Monday’s announcement.
He stays in Jantar Mantar.
What’s next for Wangchuk?
The current protest has attracted some MPs, including at least Priya Saroj of the Congress, to the site. Actors have expressed their support as well. TMC’s MP Mahua Moitra wrote that his goal had been achieved: “The government does not care about your life or the lives of millions of young people. But your life matters to us.”
Rahul Gandhi did not visit the school, though he met whistleblower CBSE students at his residence on June 2 and launched a separate campaign titled ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ on June 17.
Congressman and spokesperson Pawan Khera expressed concern about Wangchuk’s health. He also compared the stance of the BJP-led NDA government with how Anna Hazare’s 2011-12 fast was handled under the Congress-led UPA regime.
Wangchuk has resisted being chosen as a successor to Mahatma Gandhi or Anna Hazare, saying such comparisons make him uncomfortable. He said that the Sarsour Janta Party – which was founded and named after… The Chief Justice of India made some sharp comments in May – a ‘colourless’ platform.
The CJP’s march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament is scheduled to take place on July 20, the first day of the monsoon session.
