‘No trust’: Wife wants Wangchuk moved from Safdarjung; says march in ‘cities across India’

“We do not want anything to be given to him orally or through IV (intravenously) without my consent. There is a problem of trust, and a lack of transparency. Secondly, why are they not letting our phones inside (the hospital building)? Why is there such heavy police deployment? It seems like this is not Safdarjung hospital, but Safdarjung prison,” she said.

Wangchuk’s 20-day hunger strike had “recast the image of Gen Z”, Angmo said. “Earlier they were lamented, but Gen Z has shown how a peaceful protest can be conducted… Sonam Wangchuk joined this protest because the demand for a clean and competent education system is just, and should be met,” she said.

Angmo said that the march planned by Wangchuk on the first day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session on Monday would also take place in cities across the country, and that she would represent the activist if he was unable to join himself.

“The protest so far has happened without violence, so they have no reason to stop the march on Monday. The march will not only take place in Delhi, but in various cities across India. And if Sonam’s health does not permit it, I will represent him,” she said.

In a letter to the Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung hospital, Angmo asked for her husband to be discharged so that he could be taken to a different medical facility.

“We want Sonam Wangchuk shifted to a medical centre of our choice. We asked your team to share his reports with us, digitally or physically, and they refused. The doctors who have been monitoring him for the past 20 days are not being allowed to meet him. This lack of transparency has shaken our trust in your hospital. Therefore, we have decided to shift Mr. Wangchuk to a medical centre of our choice. Kindly complete the discharge formalities at the earliest,” she wrote.

In the evening, Angmo told Saurav Das, a spokesperson of the activist platform Cockroach Janta Party (CJP): “Sonam’s vitals are currently normal. He has not broken his fast, even though he has been offered coconut water and IV. He wants to send the message to the youth that we have to take this movement to its end, by marching to Parliament on Monday. The youth have continued the movement in a peaceful manner after he was removed (from the protest site), and he is proud of that.”