NEW DELHI — Indian social activist Sonam Wangchuk is approaching 60 years old, yet he has emerged as the defining figure of a Gen Z movement calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s education minister, following widespread exam paper leaks. His cause gained even more visibility after authorities forcibly transported him to a hospital following three weeks of refusing food.
Wangchuk is widely believed to have inspired the central character in a major Bollywood film. He built his reputation campaigning on behalf of his home region of Ladakh, a Himalayan area that borders China. However, his hunger strike in protest of exam leaks that impacted millions of students across India has earned him a brand-new audience among young people, helping transform the issue into a broader generational movement that is putting pressure on Modi’s administration.
Even before Delhi police moved him to a hospital over the weekend — following his hunger strike in solidarity with supporters of the youth Cockroach Janta Party — people were already drawing comparisons between Wangchuk and India’s revered independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. Messages of support, both video and text, have poured in from across the country, including from Bollywood celebrities.
Speaking this month from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, Wangchuk addressed those comparisons directly: “It pains me when some say you’re the Gandhi of the 21st century, the modern Gandhi, you’re the real hero.”
He continued: “I am no Gandhi, no hero. I’m just an ordinary citizen who has not shied away from his responsibilities. Don’t look for a hero in others. Be the hero of your own life and fulfill your responsibilities.”
Affectionately referred to as “Sonam Sir” — the name Sonam translates to “merit” or “virtue” in some cultures — Wangchuk is one of the most prominent voices in Ladakh. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke is among those who use that endearing title. Wangchuk has spent his career championing education reform and water conservation in the high-altitude desert landscape of Ladakh. In 2018, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, a prestigious honor often referred to as Asia’s Nobel Prize, in recognition of that work.
Born in 1966 in the small, isolated village of Ulaytokpo in Ladakh, Wangchuk was just 19 years old and studying engineering at the government-run National Institute of Technology in Kashmir when he launched a tutoring program in foundational subjects like English and mathematics that helped hundreds of students. He later founded the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh.
As the effects of climate change began threatening water availability in the region, Wangchuk developed artificial glaciers he called “ice stupas” — cone-shaped ice formations that accumulate water during winter months and gradually melt in summer to provide irrigation, according to his Magsaysay Award citation.
In recent years, he has grown into a prominent voice for environmental protection and greater self-governance for Ladakh, which is currently a federally administered territory. He spent nearly six months behind bars in 2025 following deadly protests that called for Ladakh to be granted statehood. Wangchuk has denied any role in inciting the violence.
Indian media reported that his father, Sonam Wangyal, once served as a minister in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, and that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi played a role in ending one of his hunger strikes related to demands for affirmative action for people from Ladakh.
Wangchuk is married to Gitanjali J. Angmo, who also works in the field of education. He has previously stated that he is willing to die for the causes he believes in, including his demand that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down. Pradhan has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Reuters.
Wangchuk had previously stated his fast could stretch to six weeks — unless his body gave out first. “But hopefully we don’t have to go that far,” he said. “A sensitive government in a democracy listens to the pain of its people, and I hope they will take action.”
In the days before Delhi police intervened and moved him to the hospital, Wangchuk told Reuters: “Our demand for a resignation will bring some accountability to the system. At least, this will help restore trust in democracy.”
