Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has not visited hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk at the Kokruch Janta Party protest in Jantar Mantar for nearly three weeks, and that absence has become its own story — prompting ridicule from Wangchuk himself, then a lengthy defense from the Congress leader, as well as a perspective shot by the CJP founder on X.
Amid this chatter, the Congress leader’s actual trajectory points elsewhere, towards his next campaign event on the same issues, also demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over paper leaks and examination-related irregularities.
A month after its launch in Kota in Rajasthan, Rahul’s event series ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ will see its next run in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on July 17, at a venue that was changed at short notice after the state administration withdrew its earlier permission.
Rahul also posted a video asking, “Modi ji, are you upset?”, over the dispute over change of venue with the BJP government. “Narendra Modi has made a decision that he wants to shift course in the next four-five days,” he said in Hindi. [public] Interest in doing one thing or another. You should not allow him to divert your attention. Unemployment is the biggest problem… The future of 2 crore youth has been destroyed.
Uttarakhand Congress unit president Ganesh Godial on Wednesday confirmed that the Dehradun event, which was originally planned at the parade ground, will now be held at the Pannu School grounds. He told reporters that the party had deposited the fees and obtained permission for July 15, 16 and 17, but the administration canceled it, citing the extension of another event on the ground. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state and the center accused the Congress of playing the “false victim card” over the dispute.
The campaign is being run by Rahul
Rahul Gandhi launched ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ (Echo of Students) from Kota on June 17. Three follow-up events – Prayagraj, Patna and Delhi – were postponed after he reportedly extended an overseas trip. The BJP has criticized the matter, even suggesting a “foreign conspiracy”.
Gandhi’s first engagement on his return was a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretary (organization) KC Venugopal on the evening of July 14, on issues related to the party’s Punjab unit.
Not far from there, the Wangchuk fast continued, under the banner of the CJP protest that began on June 28 over the same paper leak and NEET-related grievances. Wangchuk refused to end his fast, despite suffering from “severe pain”, as he lost more than 8 kilograms in weight.
Debke rephrases the question
CJP founder Abhijit Debaki, in his X post on Wednesday morning, completely disputed the ‘Where is Rahul’ narrative. Instead of questioning why opposition leaders or CJP staff members are not fasting alongside Wangchuk, he said: “Ask the questions that actually matter.”
“Why does the Prime Minister refuse to engage in dialogue? Why is the Education Minister still unaccountable? These are the questions that deserve answers, not distractions that only help protect those in power from accountability,” he wrote on
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Debki separately thanked a group of opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, NCP’s Rohit Pawar, and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, for visiting the site or offering solidarity. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was among those who received a note of thanks for promising to raise their issues in Parliament.
But Wangchuk said so Indian Express Indian He said the previous day that it would be a “huge triviality” if senior opposition leaders stayed away.
Pointingly asked about Rahul Gandhi, he said that the public would “reject” leaders who did not express solidarity on real issues.
Mevani refuted Rahul’s previous record
This framing elicited a response from Gujarat Congress working president Jignesh Mevani on X; He rejected the idea that Congress ignored the protest. He noted that the party did not say anything negative about Wangchuk or the protesting youth.
Mevani confirmed that the party’s student wing NSUI and Youth Congress faced water cannons and lathes while protesting against paper leakage in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states. He also pointed to Rahul Gandhi’s song “Chhatron Ki Goonj” as evidence that the Congress party is “walking with the youth at every step”.
Mevani listed other examples of Rahul Gandhi’s past engagement with grieving families and affected communities across issues, such as the Mandsaur farmer killings and the Wayanad landslide, and with students affected by the recent issues.
“Continuing solidarity without turning grief into a spectacle,” he wrote.
He said the Congress protests and the Wangchuk fast should be seen as complementary rather than competing.
Rahul Gandhi has in the past spoken about the statehood movement in Ladakh as well, which Wangchuk co-led, and was even jailed for six months recently. After the police shooting in Leh killed four people on September 24, 2025, and Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Law, Gandhi said the government had “betrayed the people of Ladakh” and demanded a judicial inquiry into the deaths. Wangchuk was released from Jodhpur prison on 14 March 2026.
Structural difference
As for the Jantar Mantar protest now, there has been a clear shift in how it is presented by the CJP, an online group founded in May and named after it, in a satirical manner, after the chief justice of India made some remarks. Debke, a former social media strategist at AAP, said from the start of the protest that the protest was “not dependent on any political party”. At one point he told reporters: “We do not want the existing parties to come.” He also spoke about how Rahul Gandhi’s appointment or Narendra Modi’s defeat “would not mean much”.
Dipke’s older
Read also | How the Modi government’s equation with Sonam Wangchuk collapsed: from ‘brilliant conversation’ to Jantar Mantar
However, the CJP’s stated “apolitical” or apolitical stance to welcome leaders arriving without party flags has since softened, and the protest has attracted visits or statements of solidarity from Left leaders, TMC’s Mahua Moitra and Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena’s (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, NCP’s Rohit Pawar, AAP’s Sanjay Singh and Atishi, to… By congressional representatives. AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to visit on Thursday.
What’s next by Congress, CJP
The Dehradun event organized by Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to continue at the Bannu School grounds on July 17, with four more stops in the city planned for ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ before Independence Day, August 15.
Meanwhile, the CJP said it expects a response from the Modi government by July 20, the opening day of the monsoon session of Parliament. A march was planned from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on that day.
