Congress mum on CJP protest, Tharoor pens open letter to Wangchuk, protesting students

While Congress has held back, Tharoor has supported students’ cause as CJP protests at Jantar Mantar, says issue will be taken forward in Parliament.

Illustration: Shruti Naithani/ThePrint

New Delhi: Even as the Congress leadership has stopped short of officially backing the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike, senior party leader and MP Shashi Tharoor has struck a sympathetic note, penning an emotional open letter to protesting students, Wangchuk and young Indians.

In the letter posted on X Wednesday, Tharoor appealed directly to Wangchuk to end his hunger strike, saying the purpose of the fast had already been achieved by drawing the nation’s attention to the issue.

The CJP has been demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Wangchuk has been on an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar since 28 June.

“To Shri Sonam Wangchuk-ji, my heartfelt appeal: please end your fast. You have awakened the conscience of the nation; that is what a fast is meant to do. India needs your voice for the long road ahead,” Tharoor wrote.

With the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning Monday, Tharoor said the Opposition would raise the concerns of protesting students in Parliament, stating that the issue should now be addressed through democratic institutions rather than through a fast unto death.

The Congress MP also urged the Centre to engage in constructive dialogue with the protesters. “I respectfully urge the government to reach out and engage in the dialogue our democracy owes its young citizens. That is not weakness; that is statesmanship,” he wrote.

An Open Letter to the Jantar Mantar protestors:

My dear young friends,

I address you today not as a politician or an MP, but as someone deeply troubled by what is happening to your generation of young Indians.

This is personal for me. I was born to a middle-class family: my…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 15, 2026

His remarks come as the CJP has announced a peaceful march to Parliament led by Wangchuk, even as the protest at Jantar Mantar continues.

Expressing solidarity with the students, Tharoor said their anger reflected the frustration of a generation that had lost faith in the fairness of the examination system.

“To the young people gathered at Jantar Mantar, and those raising your voices peacefully across India: this country hears you. Your anger is not indiscipline—it is the anguish of a generation that did everything right and was still betrayed. You are not alone,” he wrote.

Recalling his own middle-class upbringing, Tharoor said he understood why a transparent, merit-based system mattered so deeply for young Indians. He was born to a middle-class family. Tharoor’s father was a salaried newspaper employee and his mother a homemaker, with three children to educate on one income, he wrote.

“For a family like ours, merit was not a slogan. Scholarships, fair examinations, honest results—these were the only way one salary could carry three children’s dreams,” he added.

“I know that a fair, merit-based system is the only ladder for young people from lower and middle-income families to climb up. When that ladder is broken, papers leaked, examinations cancelled, trust destroyed, the children of the rich and powerful do not suffer. They have other ladders. It is your dreams, your families’ sacrifices (and tragically, in some homes, young lives themselves) that are betrayed,” he said.

Ending his letter on a note of hope, Tharoor said young Indians should not lose faith in the future. “And to the millions of young Indians watching quietly: your generation is not a problem to be managed. You are the answer to India’s future. Do not lose hope. This ladder will be rebuilt, by you, and by every Indian who stands with you,” he stated.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)