{"id":955610,"date":"2026-07-24T06:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/955610\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:13:13","slug":"indian-activist-sonam-wangchuk-ends-26-day-hunger-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/955610\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ends 26-day hunger strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW DELHI (AP) \u2014 Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk<\/a> ended a 26-day hunger strike on Friday that helped galvanize a youth movement that\u2019s become one of India\u2019s largest protests in recent years, but demonstrators vowed to continue until the education minister resigns.<\/p>\n

Wangchuk\u2019s fast became a rallying point for India\u2019s \u201cCockroach\u201d protests<\/a>, which began more than a month ago demanding education reforms after alleged leaks in some of the country\u2019s most competitive entrance exams. Since then, the movement has tapped into broader public anger over unemployment, government accountability and economic opportunity, drawing professionals, families and activists to demonstrations in New Delhi and cities across the country.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations have become one of the most sustained waves of public dissent against Modi\u2019s government in recent years, with thousands returning to the streets even after police used tear gas and batons this week to disperse marchers trying to reach Parliament.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Wangchuk said he ended his fast in the presence of two federal ministers after appeals from dozens of members of parliament and following \u201ca long negotiation on various conditions and in view of possible violence in the country.\u201d He did not elaborate on the talks.<\/p>\n

Protest organizers said demonstrations would continue until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. They have called for demonstrations across the country on Friday in solidarity with students who were beaten by police during a march to Parliament on Monday<\/a> that drew thousands of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t let Sonam sir\u2019s sacrifice go in vain,\u201d said Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical group that has spearheaded the movement, named in reference to a remark by the country\u2019s supreme court chief justice that compared some unemployed young people to cockroaches.<\/p>\n

The nationwide protests come a day after Modi publicly addressed the protests for the first time, announcing fast-track courts to prosecute cases involving examination paper leaks. In a separate video message, Modi also said his government would introduce a legislation in Parliament to crack down on exam paper leaks.<\/p>\n

The announcements did little to calm the movement, as protesters said they failed to address their demands for government accountability, examination reforms and compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after exam paper leaks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Sign up for Morning Wire:<\/strong>
\n Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day.\n <\/p>\n

Fabeha Sayyed, 23, said Modi\u2019s video message showed he was finally paying attention to the issue, but she questioned why he had not asked the education minister to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he were so concerned about the protests, about the students and the families of students who committed suicide, then it is not hard for him to get a person to resign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW DELHI (AP) \u2014 Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike on Friday that helped galvanize…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":955611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[9600,13214,248855,136834,57,1567,47715,50,402,16524,103,107],"class_list":["post-955610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-activism","tag-asia-pacific","tag-cockroaches","tag-dharmendra-pradhan","tag-general-news","tag-india","tag-new-delhi","tag-news","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-south-asia","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116973483278754010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}