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Not only Sonam Wangchuk, AISA activists on parallel hunger strike ‘at high risk’ too: ‘Shows the govt is heartless’
AISA said the three would continue hunger strike in solidarity with Wangchuk. Doctor who examined the activists offered a grim assessment of their vitals.
There's the hunger that gnaws at the stomach, and then “the hunger for power that people in government have” — that was the contrast Neha Bora offered this week for the fast she and two other student activists have kept up for 20 days and counting at Jantar Mantar, parallel to activist Sonam Wangchuk's fast under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
Neha, who is national president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), along with Manish and Aameen who are also fasting, has been seeking Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over recent exam leaks and irregularities.
Doctors have warned their bodies are beginning to fail them, and at least three other comrades from the CPI(ML)-Liberation-affiliated AISA have had to be taken to hospital already. According to the organisation, Aameen is “at risk of hypovolemic shock” due to dehydration; Neha's blood sugar level has dropped to a dangerous 49 mg/dL; and Manish has lost more than 10 per cent of his body weight.
AISA said the three would continue their fast in solidarity with Wangchuk despite the worsening condition. Dr Tilopa, who examined the activists on Thursday, offered a grim assessment of their vitals.
“These three activists are in high risk condition,” the MBBS-MD doctor said in a video posted from the protest site, warning that it could become critical at any point. She flagged the risk of organ failure too: “Neha's condition is particularly bad because her blood sugar is decreasing day by day. We can see muscle wasting in these people. There can be multiple organ failure if the strike is prolonged.”
Of the three who had to withdraw after falling sick, 21-year-old Delhi University student Deepak was hospitalised due to hypovolemic shock — a medical emergency caused by severe blood or fluid loss that can affect the heart. He was discharged from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital the following day after his ECG returned normal and his pulse rate stabilised.
What the activists have said
Neha, a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, has been posting video messages from the site. Earlier in the week, she recounted Deepak's hospitalisation and described watching Wangchuk struggling to get up. “This is the truth of this protest,” she said.
She characterised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as “a heartless king”, and appealed to supporters to join the movement, particularly the planned July 20 mobilisation for a march to Parliament on the first day of its Monsoon Session. She also said. “For every one of ours you send to the hospital, our resolve to see Dharmendra Pradhan fall becomes stronger.”
Aameen said the CJP protest, now having crossed four weeks, and the hunger strike had “exposed” the government. "If the public emotion that is going out is that the government is heartless, then we have succeeded in exposing the government," he said in comments to PeekTV, “This heartlessness was previously reserved for the working class, the poor folk, Dalits; it was reserved for our minorities. I think people have realised that everybody's turn will come.”
Wangchuk's condition and the plan for July 20
Wangchuk's own hunger strike entered its 20th day on Friday, on the main stage where an “apolitical” neutrality is being attempted in terms of flags and slogans.
The Ladakh-based educationist, 59, told supporters he would stay alive till then at any cost. “I am weak from the outside but very strong inside,” he said, adding that if the planned Parliament march on July 20 did not succeed, “I will come back as a ghost!”
Wangchuk lost another 350 grams over the previous 24 hours, taking his cumulative weight loss to about 9.5 kg; he now weighs 56.55 kg. His blood pressure was recorded at 108/68 mm Hg, blood sugar at 80 mg/dL, pulse rate at 72 beats per minute and oxygen saturation at 96 per cent, with doctors noting mild dehydration but describing him as mentally alert.
A day earlier, doctors had warned that his condition had entered a critical stage, cautioning that continued fasting could result in organ damage.
Wangchuk has declined to call off the strike, arguing that doing so without a government response would send the wrong message. The Delhi High Court has directed authorities to monitor his health daily and provide medical assistance if his condition deteriorates.
The protest by the Cockroach Janta Party — founded and named thus by Abhijeet Dipke earlier this year as a riff on some sharp comments by the Chief Justice of India — began on June 20; Wangchuk joined on June 28 and has remained on an indefinite hunger strike since.
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has called them “B-team of terrorists”, while PM Modi and the government have not engaged with them so far.
