Indian police arrest hospital worker after 20-day hunger strike | Corruption Issues

Police said there was ‘a bit of chaos’ as protesters tried to stop them from arresting Sonam Wangchuk, who is on a hunger strike over corruption in India’s exams.

Police have forcibly removed a prominent figure from a protest site in New Delhi and taken him to hospital, saying his health is deteriorating due to starvation over corruption in India’s exams.

Sonam Wangchuk, 59, was removed on Saturday from a protest site at Jantar Mantar, a 19th-century museum, after 20 days of fasting that has become a key part of a campaign by young people to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

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The protest group, which calls itself the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), emerged in May after a senior judge in India’s Supreme Court. compared some unemployed youth to “cockroaches”. At first it involved internet memes, but hundreds of students and activists have gathered at Jantar Mantar since Wangchuk began his hunger strike on June 28.

Wangchuk was “transferred to a hospital for necessary medical treatment” as per the Supreme Court order following expert advice from doctors, the deputy commissioner of police in New Delhi said.

“According to their orders… the opposition tried to prevent it, where there was a bit of chaos,” he said. “We request the protesters at Jantar Mantar to vacate the premises peacefully as soon as possible.”

A few hours before he was hospitalized, Wangchuk wrote on X: “Small groups have overthrown many governments in India… & this is about education.”

An engineer by training, Wangchuk is best known for pioneering water conservation in the Himalayas.

India’s exams are facing a lot of public criticism cases of corruption and mismanagement.

About 2.2 million aspiring doctors had to retake India’s highly-secured annual medical entrance exam last month after the initial test in May. be resolved after the questions are released. The popular messaging app Telegram was temporarily blocked by the government in an attempt to prevent further leaks.

Students who suffer from anxiety for months and hours of studying before the exam become very angry when they learn that the first exam has been canceled and they have to retake it. More than a dozen were He is said to have died by suicide.

Indian youth who were frustrated with the government’s policies on education and public services, adopted the cockroach insult as a sign of respect. Their campaign attracted over 21 million Instagram followers in a matter of days.

In addition to the resignation of the education minister, the group also wants to reform the examination system and compensation for the families of students who have taken their own lives.

The CJP said on Saturday in a televised address that the government “forcefully abducted” Wangchuk without his or his family’s consent.

CPJ founder Abhijeet Dipke said at the protest site that the government had made a “big mistake” and vowed to go on “hunger strike from today”.

Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo said in X’s letters that she was with her husband at Safdarjung Hospital and insisted that he would continue to be starved.

“Nothing should be given to him orally or intravenously without the consent of me, his family, and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days,” he told reporters at the hospital.

He added that although he was “grateful that the government took care of him to bring him here”, Wangchuk and his family did not want to receive medical treatment.

He said: “We will do the following things ourselves. “There is no reason to interfere with the government in this matter. He is weak and losing muscle – which happens during any fast – but he is alert and very strong.”

Authorities deployed additional police and staff and erected barricades around the protest site and the hospital. The police have said that security has been increased as a precaution and they have asked the protesters to cooperate.

Other protests have been planned at the venue to coincide with the start of the session of India’s parliament on Monday.