New Delhi:
Sonam Wangchuk should end his hunger strike at the earliest, but that will not mean the protest against paper leaks will stop, Cockroach Janta Party spokespersons told NDTV.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV’s Senior Managing Editor Vishnu Som at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, the spokespersons, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, also claimed doctors informed them that over “98%” of the police personnel injured in the party’s march to Parliament on Monday suffered only minor injuries.
Asked whether their demands had changed since the protests began, Ranka said two have remained unchanged from day one – the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after the NEET paper leak. An additional demand now, he said, was that no “fabricated” legal action should be taken against protesters who took part in the Parliament march.
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“This government will go after peaceful protesters as much as it can, which can have a chilling effect. So, we really need the government to agree that they will not proceed against any of these peaceful protesters and organisers of the protest as well,” Das, who is the chief spokesperson of the CJP, said.
#LeftRightCentre | Protest Over Paper Leaks Continue In Jantar Mantar
NDTV’s @VishnuNDTV Speaks To CJP Spokespersons Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) and Ashutosh Ranka (@AshutoshRanka) pic.twitter.com/d0oGbHBdwy
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 22, 2026
The Delhi Police has said over 118 police personnel were injured in violence by protesters on Monday. When Das was asked about this, he said most of the personnel suffered minor injuries.
“See, I think compared to the brutality suffered by the students, the policemen are all wearing big bandages for very small wounds. I personally went to the hospitals. I checked on the protesters, but I also enquired from the doctors about the injuries of the policemen, which we don’t want. We are all for peaceful protests,” he said.
“The doctors did tell me that most of the policemen – they used the numbers 98%, 99% – have soft tissue injuries, which happen just when you are pushing around (in a crowd). It is natural that in a protest as big as this one, as historic as this one, you would see something like that. But the internet is flooded with the kind of brutality, the draconian manner in which protesters’ heads and legs were broken, women protesters were molested, and children were slapped and kicked,” he alleged.
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When it was pointed out to them that most protesters have also been released from hospital, Das and Ranka pointed to several people present at the spot who had suffered head injuries and were “brutally attacked” on their legs.
They maintained that the march was largely peaceful and violence occurred in places where the police assaulted people.
Parties Backing Protest
To a question on whether they were worried that their protest was being usurped by other parties, like the Congress, which staged a sit-in outside PM Narendra Modi’s house on Tuesday, the spokespersons said they had no cause for concern.
“I think this is not a competition. Every political party, every organisation that picks up the issues of the youth of this country, speaks about this education system, or asks for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, is more than welcome to do so. If you start doing things together, the impact will be much more. But if organisations are doing things in their own capacity, they are welcome to do that as well. At the end of the day, you have to talk about the youth of this country, and that’s all that matters,” Ranka emphasised.
Das also said he is not worried about talk of a ‘fixed match’ between the CJP and some parties. “There have been no talks with the Centre after the first meeting with Health Minister JP Nadda (on Monday). So, you know, the ball is in the government’s court. We are bothered only with that and not with whatever mudslinging is happening outside of Jantar Mantar and our movement,” he said.
Wangchuk’s Hunger Strike
Engineer and activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike since June 28 in support of the protest, wrote to the Centre on Wednesday and said he will call off the fast if the government gives an assurance that protesters who took part in the Parliament march will not face punitive legal action.
The CJP spokespersons said this would be a good thing.
“We all respect Sonamji and he has gone through a lot. I have lost count of the number of days he’s been on a hunger strike. We want sir to end the fast because we are concerned about his health. We have told him we will take this movement forward,” Das said.
He was, however, adamant that this would not mean the end of the protest.
“We will continue with our protests here till we get Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation and till our demands are met. People from all over the country have joined us. They look up to this movement as their only hope, and we can’t let them down,” he stressed.
