The BJP-led central government on Saturday came under intense attack from the Opposition leaders, who criticised the forceful removal of renowned climate activist Sonam Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar where he had been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike demanding Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over alleged paper leaks and student suicides.
Delhi Police personnel in plain clothes reached the protest site early morning and shifted Wangchuk to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital in an attempt to end his strike.
The police claimed that the action was carried out in compliance with the directions of the Delhi High Court and on the advice of medical experts.
Terming the Delhi Police action “another black stain on democracy and Constitution”, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government considers anyone who raises their voice against it as “anti-national and a parasite.”
“Whether it’s Prof. GD Agrawal, who sat on a fast unto death for 111 days to save Mother Ganga, or the Olympic wrestler from Haryana, whether it’s our 750 farmer protesters, Dalits and Adivasis, or the 25 children sacrificed to the paper leak and their families, this tyrannical government has spared no one…In their eyes, anyone who raises their voice is an “Anti-National,” a “parasite”! What happened at Jantar Mantar today is yet another black stain on democracy and the Constitution,” Kharge said on X.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who had extended his support to Wangchuk’s protest, called his removal from the protest site “an utterly reprehensible development.”
“This incident, which occurred this morning, 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,” Yadav said.
The Samajwadi Party leader said that the BJP never believed in the ideology of the Mahatma Gandhi or his methods of non-violence.
“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!” he said.
Former Bengal CM and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee also criticised the police action.
In a democracy, Banerjee said, peaceful dissent deserves engagement, not silence.
“A GOVERNMENT THAT TREATS DISSENT AS A THREAT INSTEAD OF A DEMOCRATIC OBLIGATION CANNOT DEMAND TRUST WHILE EVADING ACCOUNTABILITY,” she added.
NCP-SP leader Rohit Pawar said that the government panicked after learning that Wangchuk is not straying from his goal and removed him from the protest site.
“What exact message does the central government intend to send through this? That we will crush the movement, but won’t accept the agitators’ demands—is that the message, right? Instead of resorting to such coercion, why doesn’t the government demand the resignation of the inactive Education Minister? This arrogance of the government is extremely dangerous from the perspective of democracy!” Pawar remarked.