‘What a shame’: Opposition attacks Centre for Sonam Wangchuk’s removal

Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike for 21 days, is shifted to a hospital from Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

Opposition leaders on Saturday accused the Centre of trying to crush the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) by removing activist Sonam Wangchuk from the Jantar Mantar protest venue, terming the move an assault on India’s constitutional and democratic principles.  The BJP hit back, slamming the “opportunists in the Opposition” for staying away from the protest venue.

Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike since June 28, demanding broader reforms to the examination system and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. His sudden removal from the site early Saturday morning triggered questions from across party lines, days before a proposed march to Parliament on Monday, the first day of the Monsoon Session.

“Such arrogance is not right. Instead of forcibly lifting him, the (Narendra) Modi government should have talked to Sonam Wangchuk. Instead of crushing the cockroach movement and reforming the country’s education and examination system, the Modi government’s defeat is in forcibly dealing with Sonam Wangchuk,” Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal alleged.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray termed Wangchuk’s removal a shame and alleged that the Delhi Police’s move was an assault on democracy. “What a shame! The world watches democracy in India being broken by force, shamelessly. Even peaceful protests for  students against an incompetent minister are not tolerated anymore,” he alleged.

‘For BJP, peaceful protest a law-and-order problem to be crushed’

Congress MP Pawan Khera sought to underline that the Constitution guarantees the right to dissent, but the Amit Shah-led Ministry of Home Affairs “appears determined to deny it”.   “The Delhi Police reports directly to the Home Ministry – the very ministry that appointed a new police commissioner in Delhi just yesterday. If today’s crackdown is his first brief, it sends a chilling message: political obedience takes precedence over Constitutional duty,” he alleged.

Khera, who met Wangchuk on Friday, added that the move exposed the NDA government’s “mindset” when it came to viewing protests as “a law-and-order problem to be crushed”, taking on the BJP as the “most anti-democratic political party of the world.”

“From dragging away women wrestlers to manhandling ex-servicemen, this government has repeatedly demonstrated its contempt for the Constitution…peaceful protest is not a fundamental democratic right to be protected, but a law-and-order problem to be crushed. It is a shame that the world’s largest democracy is being ‘ruled’ by the most undemocratic and anti-democratic political party of the world,” he added.

Utterly reprehensible: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded that Wangchuk’s further medical treatment—he has been admitted to Safdarjung Hospital—be conducted under judicial oversight, even as he accused the BJP of never having believed in Mahatma Gandhi or his methods of peaceful dissent.

“The forcible removal of Shri Sonam Wangchuk Ji from his indefinite fast site through the use of ‘force’ is an utterly reprehensible development. This incident…has already spread across the entire country and the whole world in a short span of time. The entire world and the nation are deeply concerned about Shri Sonam Wangchuk Ji, and there is also widespread outrage against the BJP government,” he said.

Demanding that the identities of the security personnel who “sneaked in suddenly under deceptive plainclothes” to carry out his removal be made public, Yadav added that Wangchuk’s medical care be conducted under ‘judicial oversight’ because his life is “invaluable for humanity, environmental protection, democratic values, the inspiration of youthful energy, science, and innovation”.

Accusing the BJP of engaging in “repressive politics”, Yadav alleged that the move had “severely tarnished and shattered our country’s humane and democratic image on the international level.”

“The BJP has never believed in Gandhiji, nor in his Gandhian methods. The BJP’s negative ideology is one of ‘conflict’, not dialogue. The BJP has become synonymous with despair. It’s not the BJP government—it’s arrogance! The BJP’s mindset is divisive, which is why wherever there is unity, harmony, and solidarity, the BJP, out of fear, turns reactionary and disperses movements,” he added.

Following Wangchuk’s removal, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced that he was going on a hunger strike.

They were absent when it mattered most: BJP hits back

The BJP’s national IT Department in-charge, Amit Malviya, retaliated by questioning the absence of Opposition leaders lending support to Wangchuk on social media from the Jantar Mantar protest.

“The opportunists in the Opposition have suddenly woken up this morning, after a comfortable night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, to question why Sonam Wangchuk was shifted despite his deteriorating health and the Delhi High Court’s directions,” he said.

The truth, Malviya said, was “far less dramatic”, adding that when the authorities intervened, many of those who had turned Wangchuk’s fast into “a political spectacle” were nowhere to be seen.

“They were absent when it mattered most. The Opposition never had a constructive vision for this protest. Their objective was not a resolution, but the perpetuation of a crisis for political mileage. That opportunity has now been denied,” he alleged.