GURGAON: A massive showdown unfolded outside Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on Wednesday evening as a delegation of opposition MPs was stopped from meeting activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on the 25th day of his indefinite hunger strike.The MPs, carrying a letter signed by 55 lawmakers urging Wangchuk to end his fast, were forced to hand it over to his wife, Gitanjali Angmo, after police denied them access to the activist.AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was part of the delegation, accused the Centre of “tyranny” and questioned why Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh were allowed to meet Wangchuk while opposition MPs were stopped.“Look at the tyranny. First time you might be witnessing that the police is stopping someone from meeting a patient in the hospital. We came to meet Sonam Wangchuk, who is admitted to the hospital. 55 MPs signed the letter, asking him to end his fast. Do they want Sonam Wangchuk to die? This letter states that you should break your fast. Considering your health and the importance of your life, you should not continue your fast,” Sanjay Singh said while interacting with journalists outside Medanta Hospital.RJD MP Sanjay Yadav also alleged that opposition leaders were being treated differently, saying, “BJP leaders will go, opposition leaders will not. They are manhandling the Members of Parliament. They don’t even know the basic protocol. We are asking the police to show us in return whether the administration stopped you or who stopped you.”Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj demanded that police show the medical protocol being cited to prevent the MPs from meeting Wangchuk.“We will remain sitting until we get an opportunity to meet him, and whether it is night or morning, we will go only after meeting him. Show us this medical protocol. Many leaders came before us; you let them go, and medical protocol came for us, and the attitude of the police towards us was very wrong, and we will sit here until we get an opportunity to meet,” Saroj said.Meanwhile, Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, said there was a heavy police presence outside the hospital and expressed concern over the conditions surrounding the activist’s treatment.“I am standing outside Medanta Hospital. As you can see, there is a heavy police presence behind me. Yesterday, Sonam was shifted here from Safdarjung Hospital after the high court order, where it was clearly stated that Sonam is not under any detention and he is being shifted here for better care and freedom so that the police presence there is not there.”“It is very shameful that an Indian citizen who has not eaten food for 25 days, is not being given peace of mind and he is being given such a stressful condition and especially when all the MPs are bringing this signed letter. These are the signatures of all the MPs who are requesting Sonam to break his fast, but if the government is not allowing them to meet them, then what does it want that Sonam should not break his fast. Sonam has tweeted this today that he will break his fast only after the MPs’ request and after the assurance of the Government of India that no wrong will be done to the protesters. Neither legally, nor physically, nor FIR, nor anything…”Wangchuk had earlier demanded an assurance from the Centre that no “punitive or retaliatory legal action” would be taken against protesters who participated in the Cockroach Janata Party’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest, making it a condition for ending his indefinite fast.In a statement posted on X, Wangchuk maintained that the protesters had not committed any offence by participating in the movement.He wrote, “Therefore, I respectfully request an unequivocal assurance from the Government that none of the young protesters will face any punitive or retaliatory legal action for participating in this movement. Their only ‘offence’ has been to raise their voice for a fair and accountable education system.”“If such an assurance is given, I shall end my fast with faith that the Government has heard not only my appeal but also the aspirations of lakhs of young Indians. In the absence of such an assurance, I will be forced to continue my fast indefinitely. I also hope that there will be no further use of excessive police force to repress the movement,” he added.The Delhi Police have registered as many as 10 FIRs in connection with the protests organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in the national capital.The Delhi high court has meanwhile issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi Police on three public interest litigations alleging excessive use of force by police during the protest and directed the authorities to preserve CCTV footage and all other relevant electronic records relating to the incident.(With inputs from ANI)
