3 min readJul 16, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: Jul 16, 2026 at 06:00 AM ISTAs Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike at the capital’s Jantar Mantar enters yet another day, the government holds on to its hard silence. Wangchuk is no stranger to the political establishment he seeks to address, again. Last year, the profusely awarded innovator, education reformer and climate activist was arrested after a section of the protests he led in Leh — demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards for Ladakh — turned violent. The man celebrated for breaking the mould was accused of instigating the violence, labelled “anti-national”, slapped with the stringent NSA. In March this year, after about 170 days in jail, Wangchuk walked free after the government revoked his preventive detention, only days before it was to come up in court. It was actively engaging in a dialogue to address the people’s aspirations and concerns in Ladakh, the government said, through a high-powered committee and other platforms. Today, Wangchuk’s demand has changed — along with the Cockroach Janta Party, he is demanding accountability and educational reform in the wake of the NEET paper leak. But the government’s instinct and playbook remain the same — it has set its face against the protesters. As of now, it is not clear whether or when it will take the next step and relent and engage.The BJP-led government needs to reflect on its own response pattern. The Wangchuk-CJP protest cannot be compared to other instances, it is very much a product of its moment. But be it the farmers’ agitation against the farm laws being pushed through without consultation, or demonstrations against a citizenship law more discriminatory — civil society protests have almost always shone a light on the government’s inability to reach out. It cannot find the words and language to talk to those who disagree with it. This reinforces the impression that it is uncomfortable with anything that involves give and take. It is only at home talking to others, it seems, when it is striking deals with them in the political backrooms to add to its growing numbers in Parliament. Talking and listening, dialogue and negotiation, is a government’s bounden duty in a democracy — not an instrument it uses only to swing a transaction. The government needs to talk to Wangchuk and his supporters at Jantar Mantar.AdvertisementWhether it does so or not, Wangchuk has made his point. The NEET leak did not just affect those who took the exam, it has drawn attention to a broken educational system, and the need to set it right. Those changes will take patience — and more men and women like Wangchuk, dedicated to a cause that resonates wide and deep in a country of the young. That’s why he must end the fast and why the government must find a way to talk to him.