The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Born in Jails, Popularized by Gandhi, Hunger Strikes Can Hit Authorities Hard. Conditions Apply.

Sonam Wangchuk has ended his 26-day hunger strike supporting the Cockroach Janta Party’s demand for the education minister’s resignation. What did it achieve?

Social activist Sonam Wangchuk (right) ends his 26-day-long hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the Narendra Modi government, New Delhi, India, July 24, 2026.

Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk’s 26-day fast, which he ended on Thursday night, has not yet achieved the protestors’ goal: the sacking of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. But it has created impact; it has put the Narendra Modi government on the back foot for the first time since the farmers’ protests in 2021.

Wangchuk’s decision to end the hunger strike came after the government moved to address the NEET paper leak controversy and youth protests with a series of assurances. Thousands of students and youth protesters are still occupying the Jantar Mantar area in New Delhi.

Following Wangchuk’s decision to end the fast, Abhijit Dipke – the founder of India’s satirical political movement, the Cockroach Janta Party – expressed relief, saying that Wangchuk’s life is precious. He vowed that the movement will continue until Pradhan resigns or is sacked. “We won’t let Wangchuk’s immense sacrifice go in vain,” Dipke said.

The hunger strike as a mode of protest and resistance in the modern era is believed to have originated in Tsarist Russia in the late 19th century when prisoners refused food, seeking an end to inhumane treatment. Later, in the U.K. and the U.S., women’s suffrage activists in prison used hunger strikes to seek “political prisoner” status. In both countries, the prison authorities’ attempts to force-feed the hunger strikers triggered adverse sentiments and ultimately helped mobilization of public opinion in favor of the protesters.

In Ireland, independence activists also used it in jails to galvanize support for better prison conditions and the cause of independence. Irish prisoner Bobby Sands’ death after refusing food for 66 days triggered public sympathy for his cause.

In India, Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi brought this mode of protest into the public sphere — outside prison walls — starting with a fast in support of workers’ demand for a wage hike in 1918. He succeeded in making the mill owners concede his demands.

Thereafter, Gandhi used hunger strikes quite successfully to unite a large and diverse population against the British colonial powers as peacefully as possible — not only until India’s independence in 1947, but also after, especially to stop communal riots.

Gandhi was not alone in using this form of protest. During the independence movement, militant activists Bhagat Singh and Jatin Das, among many others, went on hunger strike during their prison days. Das’ death triggered nationwide protests and increased support for the independence movement. Gandhi, nevertheless, was the one to use it effectively outside the jail premises — where he had many other modes of protest available. His extraordinary success gave this mode of protest global popularity in the decades that followed.

It remained popular in independent India too, with some notable achievements and some despairing failures.

Potti Sriramulu’s 58-day fast for a Telugu-speaking state in 1952 ended with his death. But the public sentiment it generated led to the achievement of the demand — the creation of Andhra State in 1953. Six decades later, K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s fast‑unto‑death in 2009 accelerated the creation of a separate Telangana state, carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

However, Manipuri activist Irom Sharmila’s........

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