Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite fast has entered its 19th day. He remains steadfast in his demand for the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the leak of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) — the examination that determines admission to medical colleges across India. While the protest targets the government, the questions it raises are for all Indians. This is the profound moral quagmire confronting the nation: how should a democracy respond when a 59-year-old peaceful activist sits on an indefinite hunger strike, growing weaker by the day and now unable to sit up without support?

Yet, simultaneously, Sonam Wangchuk demonstrates that the path of peaceful protest is vibrantly alive. His fast stands up to a regime that appears to operate on the belief that power, force, or merely looking away will make civic dissent disappear. In Wangchuk's protest, the nation is called to revisit and reclaim the path set by Mahatma Gandhi. It is a road that has not been used for a long time but remains available to those who wish to explore its possibilities. It is a road that forces a conversation where power would prefer to run, hide and scheme behind closed doors.

There will inevitably be questions and debates on whether a fast for this specific crisis in education is the ideal tool, whether it was impulsive or came with adequate preparation, or if it aligns with the strict Gandhian prescription of a fast as an exercise in self-purification. These are hard questions for a purist Gandhian. They stand........

© National Herald