Demoralised CJP leaders wanted to end protest after July 20 crackdown: Sonam Wangchuk

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, whose hunger strike demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Union Education Minister during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest in New Delhi was a key part of the agitation, has revealed that the movement was on the verge of collapse as the CJP leadership wanted to end the agitation following the July 20 police crackdown on protesters at Jantar Mantar. The crackdown dismantled the stage and caused many protesters to leave, he claimed.

'CJP leadership wanted to end protest'

Speaking to Prakhar Gupta on the PGX podcast, Wangchuk said CJP leaders were deeply demoralised. He said that the situation became such that they requested him to prepare a message asking protesters to leave Jantar Mantar and return home. However, the message was never posted.

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“Now everyone has gone, our stage has also been broken, now there is no hope,” Wangchuk recalled the CJP leadership telling him, reported the Hindustan Times.

“They wanted me to post something saying that 'you need a good rest now, go sleep at home, don't stay at Jantar Mantar, we can see tomorrow what to do'," he said. Wangchuk said he did write such a message but never posted it.

'Youth return lifts morale'

“Now if it starts again sometime, then it starts; otherwise not,” Wangchuk recalled the CJP leadership telling him.

He praised the agitators for returning to the protest site even after the police action, adding that the CJI leadership’s morale varied according to mood and number of protesters at the venue.

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“The leadership looks at people's faces, and their morale sometimes goes up and sometimes goes down,” Wangchuk said.

“When they left, it had gone down. When the youth came back the next day, their morale went up. I would give credit to those youth who came back after everything had been broken, even after being hit with lathis, because they boosted their morale too,” he added.

On talks with government

Wangchuk said organisers had considered ways to end the agitation before the government opened talks, adding that attempts to contact Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did not receive a positive response.

The government later contacted Wangchuk through Intelligence Bureau officials. On July 21, Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh met him at the hospital and urged him to end his hunger strike.

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Wangchuk initially sought Pradhan's resignation, compensation and parliamentary discussion on long-term solutions. However, protection for protesting students from FIRs and legal harassment later became his non-negotiable demand.

After his fast ended, CJP leaders continued demanding Pradhan’s resignation as Education Minister and backed the decision because it provided accountability, though he saw no major change in the education system.

CJP plans fresh Delhi protest

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with The Federal’s ‘AI With Sanket’, CJP founder Abhijit Dipke said that the outfit is now preparing to return to Delhi’s streets on September 5, seeking the withdrawal of FIRs against student protesters and compensation for affected families.

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He said that the government had assured them these demands would be addressed before the earlier protest ended, but claims officials have since delayed action.

The planned demonstration is expected to begin at India Gate and proceed towards Delhi Police Headquarters at ITO. Dipke said it would initially be treated as a one-day march. He also said the group had no intention of disrupting the BRICS Summit, arguing that its focus remained on students facing police cases after the earlier protest.