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Who is actually on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar? Sonam Wangchuk? Or the political ambitions of the people surrounding him?

When one man loses nine kilograms while everyone around him gains followers, publicity, and political mileage, is that solidarity? Or is that exploitation with better branding?

I am Megha. Let us begin with one thing that must not be trivialised: India’s examination system has serious questions to answer. When the future of millions of students depends on a single exam, a leak is not a clerical error. It is the theft of time, money, and opportunity. Students have every right to protest, and the government has a duty to respond.

But today, the issue is no longer limited to examination reform. The stage at Jantar Mantar is steadily becoming something else: a political launchpad, a celebrity stopover, and, most importantly, a platform built around the weakening body of Sonam Wangchuk.

Wangchuk is now on the nineteenth day of his hunger strike. He has lost more than nine kilograms. The Delhi High Court has ordered daily monitoring of his health, and CJP has announced a march towards Parliament on July 20. This is no joke for Wangchuk. His body is paying the price. The question is whether everyone standing around him is making the same sacrifice-or merely using it.

Credibility Vs Capital

Sonam Wangchuk is an established educator, innovator, and environmental activist with credibility earned over decades. Abhijeet Dipke has a political movement created over weeks. One has moral capital; the other needs political capital.

The uncomfortable question is this: is CJP supporting Sonam Wangchuk, or borrowing his credibility to manufacture legitimacy for itself?

Dipke’s political past is highly relevant. Before presenting himself as the founder of an entirely new youth movement, Dipke worked as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) social-media volunteer between 2020 and 2023. Before leaving for studies in the United States, he publicly thanked Manish Sisodia and wrote that distance would never weaken his commitment to AAP.

That does not automatically prove CJP is an AAP front. But it certainly makes the question legitimate-especially when AAP workers have already participated in earlier CJP protests in Amritsar.

If someone worked for AAP, publicly promised continued commitment to AAP, receives support from AAP workers, and then creates a movement where AAP leaders repeatedly appear, asking about the relationship is not a conspiracy theory. It is basic political journalism.

The Captured Stage

Look at the stage itself. Kunal Kamra, Chandrashekhar Azad, Mahua Moitra, Prakash Raj, and Priya Saroj have all appeared. Arundhati Roy and Naseeruddin Shah have publicly backed the protest.

Every Indian has the right to protest. But when a protest over an examination controversy begins assembling the complete travelling cast of every anti-government mobilisation, it is fair to ask: is this still a focused students’ movement, or is it being converted into a general-purpose stage against the Modi government?

The political character occupying the stage is becoming increasingly familiar. A specific grievance enters. Then come the celebrities. Then the professional political speakers. Then the sweeping speeches about democracy, fascism, the Constitution, and the state of the Republic.

The original issue becomes a prop. The protest becomes a festival. And the person actually fasting becomes the background image. That is the danger here: not dissent, but the professional capture of dissent.

Optics And Sensitivity Matter

While Wangchuk is visibly losing weight, clips from the site reportedly show participants eating biryani, kachoris, and bread pakoras, food creators recording content, and people dancing near the stage.

Eating at a protest is not a crime. But optics matter. Sensitivity matters. Basic dignity matters.

When the central figure of your movement is physically collapsing, turning the protest site into a food reel and cultural carnival is not solidarity. It is grotesque theatre. One man is losing muscle; everyone else is gaining content. One man is fasting; everyone else is feeding the algorithm. The revolution, apparently, now comes with breakfast, lunch, dinner-and sponsored snacks.

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The Cynical Dividend

This is where Dipke must answer a moral question. Why is Sonam Wangchuk still fasting? What is the exit plan? Who decides whether the fast continues? What happens if Wangchuk’s health collapses? Does CJP accept responsibility, or will Dipke collect the political dividend while Wangchuk carries the medical risk?

An indefinite fast is not a social-media challenge. It is a human life placed on the negotiating table. Using another person’s reputation and physical suffering to accelerate a new political organisation is not courageous politics. It is deeply cynical politics.

The government, too, must not remain silent. Ignoring Wangchuk allows CJP to claim exclusive ownership over his cause. The government should speak to him directly, address the examination concerns with facts, and separate a respected activist’s demands from the political circus collecting around him. Silence only gives CJP oxygen.

Who Feeds On The Fast?

CJP must also be transparent. Publish its funding, disclose its leadership structure, and stop hiding behind Sonam Wangchuk’s moral stature. Wangchuk is not a campaign mascot. He should not be reduced to a weak body on a mattress while political visitors rotate across the stage.

A genuine students’ movement should be led by students. Its leader should not need someone else’s hunger strike to become nationally relevant.

So yes, question the government. Demand accountability for examination failures. But also question the people monetising outrage, collecting followers, and building political careers around a man who is becoming weaker every hour.

Because the real question at Jantar Mantar is no longer just: why is Sonam Wangchuk fasting?

It is also: who is feeding on his fast? And when the cameras are gone, who will actually remain beside him?

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