New Delhi: Breaking its silence on Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, the Congress Thursday publicly aligned itself with his demands, with party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal urging the activist to end his fast while reaffirming the Congress’s demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
“The Indian National Congress has been making this very demand for over a month and a half. We share the anguish and outrage that Shri Wangchuk ji feels, especially due to the lack of accountability within the Modi Government—for the collapse of the examination system in particular,” Venugopal said in a post on X.
“In view of his health condition, we appeal to Shri Wangchuk to end his fast. His concerns are our concerns and that of other opposition parties as well. Rest assured, we will continue to confront the Modi government and demand the Education Minister’s resignation,” he added.
Venugopal’s X post however did not mention the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which initiated the protests at Jantar Mantar demanding the education minister’s resignation over the NEET-UG paper leak. Wangchuk joined the CJP protest later and has been on an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar for the past 19 days.
On Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav visited Jantar Mantar.
Shri Sonam Wangchuk has now been on a hunger strike for 19 days, demanding the resignation of the Union Education Minister.
The Indian National Congress has been making this very demand for over a month and a half. We share the anguish and outrage that Shri Wangchuk ji feels,…
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 16, 2026
Congress sources told ThePrint that the party remains wary of the movement, believing it is increasingly driven by Left-wing organisations. They also fear it could evolve into an ‘AAP 2.0’, a political force that could eventually eat into the Congress’s own support base.
Venugopal’s statement came hours after Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh defended the party’s position when asked why it had not extended formal support to Wangchuk’s agitation. “We have been demanding accountability from the government. We have been demanding the resignation of Pradhan,” Ramesh said, adding that the Congress had been raising the issue for nearly two months.
Over the past three weeks, parties including AAP, SP, Shiv Sena (UBT), Trinamool Congress (TMC), CPI, CPI(ML)-Liberation and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have backed the agitation. Leaders from the DMK have also visited the protest site, while delegations from the Left parties, AAP, SP and TMC met protesters at Jantar Mantar.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had also earlier written to Wangchuk, expressing solidarity with his concerns over the examination system and urging him to take care of his health while assuring him that the issues he had raised deserved to be addressed.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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