Rahul ignored plan to end my fast, says Sonam Wangchuk

Wangchuk also accused JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh of breaking a promise not to release photos of them offering him soup until he could announce the end of his fast

NEW DELHI: Sonam Wangchuk said his wife Gitanjali had tried to get Rahul Gandhi to offer him juice to end his 26-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar but received no positive response, leaving him disappointed with the Congress leader and other political parties.”We were pondering on breaking my fast through Rahul Gandhi ji and Gitanjali was working on that,” Wangchuk said. “She was working hard to see if Rahul ji could break my fast. She didn’t get a positive response”.Wangchuk also accused Union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh of breaking a promise not to release photos of them offering him soup until he could announce the end of his fast with opposition and student leaders represented. “They pledged they won’t release it and they broke the promise. So I have lost trust in all these leaders,” he said.Wangchuk said his wife’s subsequent criticism of Rahul had stemmed partly from his own disappointment. He also said netas had come to the Jantar Mantar agitation in small numbers and late. “Similarly, as I said, at Jantar Mantar very few and very late came, so this disappointment caught on her when she made a single comment about them,” he added. Gitanjali was targeted online after questioning Rahul’s decision to stage a protest outside the PM’s residence. Wangchuk said she had made several strong comments against BJP and Hindutva forces as well, but while they kept quiet, the Congress “ecosystem” turned on her for criticising Gandhi.

“There were four or five very harsh comments about BJP. They didn’t react, but the (Congress) ecosystem started trolling her, trolling me,” he said. “I am disappointed with the leadership. They shouldn’t be so narrow in their approach.”Wangchuk, however, was supportive of CJP, whose agitation against examination irregularities he joined at Jantar Mantar. He said he had studied the organisation and found its members “very well-meaning, fair and just and for the right cause, not aligned to any party as such”.He welcomed CJP’s decision to remain an apolitical pressure group instead of contesting polls. “Being apolitical, it gives voice to the voiceless,” he said, adding that this had been his advice to its leadership.