New Delhi | Updated: June 26, 2026
Education reform activist Sonam Wangchuk has announced that he will begin an indefinite hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar from Sunday if the Centre does not respond to his demands related to education reforms and Ladakh.
Wangchuk made the announcement on Thursday through a video message recorded from what he described as the “Jantar Mantar of Geneva,” a designated protest site outside the United Nations office in Switzerland.
In the video, Wangchuk said he had returned to review whether the government had taken any action on the issues he had raised before leaving for Switzerland.
Standing with the United Nations office and the Broken Chair monument in the background, Wangchuk said the monument represented the struggle for rights. He recalled that he had earlier said he would return from Switzerland and assess whether the demands had been fulfilled.
Repeating his earlier appeal, Wangchuk said the government should take responsibility for two key issues—education reforms and Ladakh’s concerns related to environment and culture.
He said that if there was no accountability by the end of Saturday, he would join the ongoing protest at Jantar Mantar and begin an indefinite fast from Sunday.
Wangchuk added that if even one of the demands was accepted, he would not need to go on hunger strike. He appealed to the government to resolve at least one issue before the deadline.
His announcement comes as the indefinite protest led by Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination continues at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The protest has entered its sixth day, and protesters are demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The demonstrators have refused to vacate the protest site despite directions to leave.
The development is expected to add further momentum to the Jantar Mantar protest, with Wangchuk’s proposed hunger strike likely to draw national attention to demands related to education reforms, NEET concerns, and Ladakh’s environmental and cultural issues.
