Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was taken against his will on Saturday to a hospital by the Delhi police on the 21st day of his hunger strike, has requested the Safdarjung Hospital to allow him to leave “even if temporarily” to participate in the Cockroach Janta Party’s march to parliament.
The 59-year-old maintains that he was feeling “very fine” and that his health parameters are normal.
“I am feeling very fine today and my health parameters are also showing as quite normal. Hence, I request you to kindly allow me to leave the hospital, even if temporarily, so that I can join the march to Parliament — Sansad Chalo — this morning,” Wangchuk wrote in a handwritten letter addressed to the medical superintendent at Safdarjung Hospital.
“I shall be most grateful,” the letter dated July 20 said.
Sonam Wangchuk is trying hard to see you all! Just submitted a letter to the hospital as his health is good and they claim he is not in detention. So why the restrictions? pic.twitter.com/XqeurZUtoP
— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) July 20, 2026
Sharing the letter on Wangchuk’s X account, his team said he was “trying hard” to join the protesters marching to Parliament.
“Sonam Wangchuk is trying hard to see you all! Just submitted a letter to the hospital, as his health is good, and they claim he is not in detention. So why the restrictions?” Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali J Angmo said in a post on X.
Delhi Police said the march had not been authorised and that restrictions were needed to maintain law and order around parliament during the monsoon session, which begins Monday.
Police fired tear gas and charged at protesters with batons after demonstrators tried to breach security barricades surrounding the protest site at Jantar Mantar.
Security at parliament was strengthened, with several entry gates to the premises closed as the protest intensified.
In another handwritten note shared earlier in the day, Wangchuk said his hunger strike would continue beyond the “Sansad Chalo” march and would end only if the government took accountability for recent failures in the education system, including paper leaks, or if Members of Parliament and leaders of political parties assured him that the issue would be taken up during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
He had said that if his health or other factors prevented him from reaching Parliament, MPs and political party leaders should visit him at the hospital to give an assurance.
Wangchuk also alleged in the note that he was under “illegal detention” at Safdarjung Hospital, claiming that his “freedom of movement, speech and all communication are restricted.”
He sat on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on June 28, in support of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest, seeking accountability following alleged irregularities in competitive examinations, and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The Cockroach Janta Party emerged in May after the Supreme Court Chief Justice compared some unemployed young people to “cockroaches” during an unrelated hearing. Supporters embraced the remark, turning it into a satirical movement that has attracted millions of followers on social media. The movement has gained momentum after repeated leaks of high-stakes entrance exams for medical colleges and government jobs sparked public anger.
