Hunger strike junction at Jantar Mantar

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Activist Sonam Wangchuk on the 3rd day of his hunger strike supporting the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) campaign seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities and NEET paper leak, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday (June 30, 2026). | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The first day goes like a breeze. The second day, there is an unusual energy. From the third day onwards, memories of food — its smells and textures — come in flashes to the mind. Hunger arrives in waves, but students say it is the ever-present heat that has been overwhelming at the capital’s Jantar Mantar, which has become a hunger strike junction over the last four days.

Also read | Sonam Wangchuk begins hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, six students join

The centre stage is occupied by activist Sonam Wangchuk, who cuts a solitary figure lying on the Cockroach Janata Party stage, amidst a continuous stream of speeches and visits by various political leaders. On the left, screened away from the crowd, are six All India Students’ Association (AISA) activists, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), who are also on the fourth day of their hunger strike. A little distance away, nine people are huddled together, the third batch of hunger strikers, now on their third day.

Spectators and mediapersons walk in and out amidst this triangle of protesters. The only thing common to the three is their demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, taking responsibility for the irregularities in the CBSE examination and the recurrent leaks in competitive exams, including the medical entyrance exam, NEET, which was postponed after a paper leak in May.

For Ameen, a third-year PhD scholar of Urban Studies at Ambedkar University and an AISA activist, this is his first hunger strike. “On the third day, I started dreaming of biting into pyaaz paranthas [onion paranthas] that my mother makes and mangoes,” he said