For 26 days, activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike became the centre of a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. What began as a youth-led agitation gradually turned into a much bigger movement, with Wangchuk’s fast giving the protest a recognisable face and drawing people from different age groups.
The 45-day protest eventually led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union education minister. However, Wangchuk has now shared details suggesting that the mood within the CJP leadership was very different from what was being projected publicly.
Speaking in a recent podcast, Wangchuk claimed that the morale of the leadership had dropped at several stages of the protest. According to him, political considerations influenced some decisions, while certain leaders were looking for a way to end the agitation.
Wangchuk said one of the leaders even approached him with folded hands and asked him to find a way to “exit the protests”.
The 59-year-old activist spoke about the internal developments of the protest during a nearly two-hour podcast with YouTuber Prakhar Gupta, which was published on Saturday, August 29.
At the time, the CJP was led by its founder and convenor Abhijeet Dipke, co-convenors Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, along with former spokesperson Vijeta Dahiya, who was later removed from the organisation.
LEADERS WERE LOOKING FOR AN EXIT, SAYS WANGCHUK
According to Wangchuk, the determination shown publicly by the CJP leadership changed at different stages of the protest.
“The spirit of the CJP with which they were announcing that they won’t call off the protest had been changing at many junctures,” Wangchuk said during the podcast.
He said the leadership’s political thinking played an important role in this changing approach.
Wangchuk claimed that before July 20, when the protest march towards Parliament took place, the morale of the leadership had fallen considerably.
“Before July 20, to be precise, before I was forcefully taken to the hospital, the CJP leadership didn’t think that there could be any outcome from this protest,” he said.
According to him, the leaders were already looking for possible ways to end the protest at that point.
Wangchuk also said there were discussions about different ways in which his hunger strike could be brought to an end. He referred to speculation involving Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, saying there was a context behind his name being mentioned.
CROWD SIZE AFFECTED THE LEADERSHIP’S MORALE
Wangchuk said the protest initially attracted large crowds, but the number of people gradually started declining after around eight or nine days.
According to him, the falling turnout also affected the morale of the CJP leadership.
“I won’t name who, but one-two people among the leadership would always ask and raise questions about how we exit from this protest,” he said.
Wangchuk said he was unsure whether he should encourage the leaders to remain firm or help them find a way out.
He recalled asking them how long they could continue staying at the protest site. The response, according to him, surprised him.
“Some of them said, with hands folded, ‘Sir, we want to go. We want to leave this place’,” Wangchuk recalled.
He said the morale of the leadership appeared to depend heavily on the number of people joining the protest.
“People’s influx and absence decided their morale,” he said.
WANGCHUK TESTED THE LEADERSHIP BEFORE JOINING
Wangchuk also spoke about how he tested the CJP leadership’s commitment before deciding to join the agitation.
When the organisation planned to begin its protest on June 20, its leaders approached Wangchuk and asked for his support. He said there were indications that his involvement could include a hunger strike.
However, Wangchuk had a science conference scheduled in Switzerland around the same time. He told the CJP leaders that he would only be able to join the protest on June 28, while they could begin the agitation as planned on June 20.
According to Wangchuk, the leaders were surprised by his decision and appeared to have expected him to join from the very beginning.
He said the eight-day gap eventually helped him assess whether the young leaders were genuinely committed to continuing the protest.
Wangchuk finally joined the agitation on June 28 and began his hunger strike after seeing that the protesters had continued their movement during those eight days.
The claims made by Wangchuk in the podcast reflect his own account of what happened inside the movement and his assessment of the CJP leadership. His remarks offer a different picture of the uncertainty and low morale that he says existed behind the strong public image projected during the protest.