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<\/picture><\/div>\nActivist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 27-day hunger strike against the alleged NEET paper leak late on Thursday after the Centre gave written assurances on three of his key demands.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh visited Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, where Nadda offered him juice to break his fast.<\/p>\n In a video message released on Friday, Wangchuk said talks with the government had continued over the past two days and culminated in written assurances, prompting him to end the hunger strike.<\/p>\n The government assured that no criminal cases would be filed against protesting students, Parliament would discuss the NEET paper leak and accountability in the examination system, and families of students who died by suicide in connection with the issue would receive appropriate compensation, Wangchuk said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, he added that the Centre did not give any assurance on his demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Wangchuk said protecting students from legal action was his immediate priority, while the demand for the minister’s resignation would continue through other means.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Deepke welcomed Wangchuk’s decision to end the fast but said the protest at Jantar Mantar would continue until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.<\/p>\n Five key takeaways from Wangchuk’s statement<\/strong><\/p>\n Support from 65 MPs<\/strong><\/p>\n Wangchuk said around 65 MPs<\/strong> from different political parties either met him or sent messages assuring him that they would raise the issues of the NEET paper leak and examination reforms in Parliament.<\/p>\n Agreement reached after two days of talks<\/strong><\/p>\n He said negotiations with the government continued for two days over the written assurances, leading him to extend his fast before finally deciding to end it.<\/p>\n No assurance on education minister’s resignation<\/strong><\/p>\n Wangchuk said the government did not agree to his demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation but stressed that it was not a mandatory condition for ending the hunger strike.<\/p>\n Ended fast to continue the larger movement<\/strong><\/p>\n He said he had to choose between risking his life by continuing the fast or ending it to continue the campaign for education reforms. Following appeals from thousands of supporters, he chose the latter.<\/p>\n Students’ protection remained top priority<\/strong><\/p>\n Wangchuk said ensuring that no legal action was taken against students involved in the protests was his foremost concern. He said other demands, including the resignation of the education minister, would continue to be pursued.<\/p>\n PM Modi wishes Wangchuk a speedy recovery<\/strong><\/p>\n Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier posted on X, urging Wangchuk to follow medical advice, regain his health and recover soon.<\/p>\n Opposition MPs had also appealed to end the fast<\/p>\n On July 22, during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, a delegation of Opposition MPs visited Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital and urged him to end the hunger strike.<\/p>\n The delegation included Vivek Tankha (Congress), Sagarika Ghose (Trinamool Congress), John Brittas (CPI-M), Sanjay Singh (AAP) and several other MPs.<\/p>\n They submitted a joint letter assuring Wangchuk that the Opposition would strongly raise the issues of the NEET paper leak, examination reforms and accountability in Parliament. The letter was initially signed by about 55 MPs, with the number later rising to around 65.<\/p>\n Hunger strike began on June 28<\/strong><\/p>\n Wangchuk began his indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on June 28 in support of students protesting the alleged NEET-UG paper leak and irregularities in the examination system.<\/p>\n His demands included Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, a fair investigation into the paper leak, fixing accountability in the examination system and compensation for families of students who died by suicide in connection with the controversy.<\/p>\n Earlier hunger strikes over Ladakh<\/strong><\/p>\n This was not Wangchuk’s first hunger strike. In March 2024, he observed a 21-day fast demanding Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh, full statehood, protection of local jobs and environmental safeguards.<\/p>\n He later launched the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march in September 2024 but was detained at the Delhi border.<\/p>\n In 2025, he was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) during protests in Ladakh. The Centre revoked the detention order in March 2026, leading to his release.<\/p>\n Irom Sharmila holds record for longest hunger strike<\/strong><\/p>\n India has witnessed several long hunger strikes by political leaders and social activists. The longest remains that of Irom Sharmila, who fasted for nearly 16 years (2000\u20132016) demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. During the protest, she was force-fed through a nasal tube to keep her alive.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 27-day hunger strike against the alleged NEET paper leak late on Thursday after the Centre gave written assurances on three of his key demands. Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh visited Wangchuk at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, where Nadda offered him juice to break his fast. In a video…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20990,20967,20966,20987,20989,20988,20969,20965],"class_list":["post-28532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-government-assurance","tag-gurugram","tag-hunger-strike","tag-jp-nadda","tag-medanta-hospital","tag-neet-paper-leak","tag-protest","tag-sonam-wangchuk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}