New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor made an emotional appeal to activist Sonam Wangchuk on Wednesday, urging him to end his indefinite fast as the protest had already “awakened the conscience of the nation” and that the fight for students’ issues should now move to Parliament.
His open letter was addressed to the Jantar Mantar protesters, but his strongest appeal was directed at Wangchuk.
“To Shri Sonam Wangchuk-ji, my heartfelt appeal: please end your 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 wrote.
Parliament is set to reconvene on Monday and Tharoor said lawmakers would have the opportunity to raise the concerns of students 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 wrote.
Despite suffering muscle loss and being in “immense pain”, Wangchuk continued his hunger strike even as appeals grew for him to call off his 18-day fast and the government to begin a dialogue, as reported by India Today.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been demonstrating at Jantar Mantar for the past 25 days over the NEET issue, has unveiled a five-point examination reform charter and said support for its agitation was growing across political parties.
Several leaders, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, have expressed concern over Wangchuk’s health condition and asked 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.”
Tharoor also urged the Centre to engage with the protesters, saying the government should initiate dialogue rather than ignore the concerns being raised.
“I respectfully urge you to reach out and engage in the dialogue our democracy owes its young citizens. That is not weakness; that is statesmanship,” he said.
In his letter, Tharoor also expressed solidarity with the students protesting at Jantar Mantar and across the country, saying their anger reflected the anguish of a generation that had “done everything right and was still betrayed.”
The Thiruvananthapuram MP recalled his own middle-class upbringing, pointing to how scholarships, fair examinations and merit had shaped his life, arguing that honest, merit-based exams remained the only path to opportunity for millions of young Indians.
When papers are leaked, exams cancelled and trust eroded, it is ordinary families — not the privileged — who bear the cost, he said.
