NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court said it will hear on Thursday a public interest litigation raising concern over the health of Sonam Wangchuk, who is on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar demanding the sacking of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the public-exams mess, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has appealed to the activist to end his fast.
The Cockroach Janta Party has been holding the protest for over 25 days. Wangchuk joined the agitation on June 28 and has been on an indefinite fast since then.
A bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia on Wednesday deferred hearing on the PIL after noting that no one appeared for the authorities – the government – amid the ongoing work abstention called by the high court’s bar association.
“Having regard to urgency, list tomorrow,” the bench said.
The court ordered that a copy of the order be served to the additional solicitor general concerned and the Delhi government counsel.
Petitioner Rakesh Kumar Saini said the situation was “sad” and “most unfortunate” as a protesting citizen was “virtually taking his life in front of the whole nation.”
In his PIL, Saini sought direction to the authorities to come to Wangchuk’s aid and “discuss the issue” with him.
It also sought a direction to force-feed the activist.
Tharoor writes open letter
In an open letter to the Jantar Mantar protesters, Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said that with Parliament in session again from Monday there will be an opportunity to raise the students’ issues at the highest forum of democracy.
“That’s where the problem should be addressed, not by fasting unto death. Please heed my plea,” he said.
“My dear young friends, I address you today not as a politician or an MP, but as someone deeply troubled by what is happening to your generation of young Indians. This is personal for me. I was born to a middle-class family: my father was a salaried newspaper employee, my mother a homemaker, with three children to educate on one income,” he said.
“For a family like ours, merit was not a slogan. Scholarships, fair examinations, honest results – these were the only way one salary could carry three children’s dreams,” the MP from said.
The CJP has announced a march to Parliament on July 20.
Tharoor said that he went to school in Mumbai and Kolkata, to college in Delhi, topped the university and earned admission into IIM, but chose instead to follow his passion for international affairs, in the US, on a scholarship.
Nothing was inherited; everything was earned by hard work and exams, he stressed.
“So I know that a fair, merit-based system is the only ladder for young people from lower and middle-income families to climb up. When that ladder is broken — papers leaked, examinations cancelled, trust destroyed — the children of the rich and powerful do not suffer.
“They have other ladders. It is your dreams, and your families’ sacrifices (and tragically, in some homes, young lives themselves) that are betrayed,” Tharoor said in his open letter on X.
To the young people gathered at Jantar Mantar, and those raising your voices peacefully across India: this country hears you, he said.
“Your anger is not indiscipline – it is the anguish of a generation that did everything right and was still betrayed. You are not alone,” the Congress leader said.
“And to the millions of young Indians watching quietly: your generation is not a problem to be managed. You are the answer to India’s future. Do not lose hope. This ladder will be rebuilt – by you, and by every Indian who stands with you,” he said.
In his message to Wangchuk, Tharoor made a “heartfelt appeal” to him to end his fast.
“You have awakened the conscience of the nation; that is what a fast is meant to do. India needs your voice for the long road ahead,” Tharoor said.
“With Parliament in session again from Monday, we will have an opportunity to raise the students’ issues in the highest forum of our democracy. That’s where the problem should be addressed, not by fasting unto death. Please heed my plea,” he said.
In his message to the government, Tharoor urged it to reach out and engage in the dialogue “our democracy owes its young citizens”.
“That is not weakness; that is statesmanship,” he asserted.
Activist Wangchuk is suffering muscle loss and is in “immense pain” but has refused to end his hunger strike despite various sections appealing to him to call off his 17-day fast and urging the government to initiate dialogue.
As Wangchuk’s health continued to deteriorate, several leaders like Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, among others, requested the activist to end his fast.
Veteran actor Zeenat Aman also appealed to the government to open a dialogue with Wangchuk, saying India should not “sit back and watch one of its greatest minds be sacrificed”.
Another member from the cinema world, 3 Idiots actor Omi Vaidya (who essayed the role of Chatur “Silencer” Ramalingam), urged people to pay attention to the deteriorating health of Wangchuk, saying he does not want the activist to die.
In 3 Idiots, the hero’s character, played by Aamir Khan, was based on Wangchuk
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has said Wangchuk has been losing muscle mass and is in “immense pain”, adding the activist has lost 8.5 kg since the beginning of his fast.
PTI