Social activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been staging a continuous hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET question paper leak, was admitted to Safdarjung Government Hospital by Delhi Police. Doctors are monitoring his condition closely, according to the report.
Wangchuk, born in Leh in Ladakh, studied mechanical engineering and became known for initiatives aimed at addressing water scarcity and for his approaches to environmental challenges. He runs a non-profit organisation in Ladakh called the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), which the report says receives foreign funding, and he is a Ramon Magsaysay awardee.
The report also recounts controversies linked to his earlier agitation seeking statehood for the Ladakh Union Territory. It states that protests in Leh turned violent, leading to damage to government offices and public property and the deaths of four people, after which he called off the fast. It further claims he was later arrested and booked under the National Security Act, and lodged in a Rajasthan prison on grounds of state security.
During that period, the Ladakh DGP was quoted as saying Wangchuk had contacts with people in Pakistan and had attended an event arranged by Pakistani media, and that he had travelled to Bangladesh and Nepal, with an investigation underway. The report adds that opposition parties have criticised the current NDA government over the issue, while also noting that a notice sent to Wangchuk in February 2007—during the Congress regime—had raised allegations including improper conduct toward officials, land encroachment, irregular foreign funding, and links with China-based and other “anti-national” organisations, seeking his explanation.
