NEW DELHI: Congress MP Imran Masood on Friday targeted activist Sonam Wangchuk for ending his 26-day hunger strike and accused him of “striking a deal” with the government.Terming the climate activist “Anna part two”, Masood said that just as Anna Hazare remained silent for 12 years, Sonam Wangchuk would also remain silent from now on.“He is Anna (social activist Anna Hazare) part two. For 12 years, Anna has remained silent, and now Sonam Wangchuk will remain silent,” the Congress MP said.“You were striking a deal with the government yesterday; at the time, was any student present there? What else is there except your personal deal with the government?” he added.Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) latched on to Masood’s remarks to target the opposition, accusing it of “stooping low.”BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that while the government successfully engaged with the protesters, Congress had resorted to insulting the climate activist through its leaders.“How low can Congress stoop in the fight for credit? The ‘Yuvraj’ of Congress (Rahul Gandhi) stayed abroad for 21 days; he never visited Sonam Wangchuk, nor did he go to the Jantar Mantar protest. In fact, today, when the government spoke with the protesters and Sonam Wangchuk, and got him to break his fast, the entire country is happy about it,” Poonawalla said in a video message.“The Congress party, keeping only its ego at the forefront, along with the Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, and CJP, is abusing Sonam Wangchuk just so he doesn’t get the credit. Even Sonam Wangchuk’s wife said that Congress is insincere. This is the real face of Congress; they are not with the students, they are only after the credit,” he added.This comes after Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike in the presence of Union ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh, saying the decision followed prolonged negotiations and was taken to avoid any possibility of violence in the country.In a post on X, Wangchuk said he broke his fast in the presence of the two Union ministers and senior leaders of the Apex Body of Leh Ladakh. He said 65 MPs from different political parties had either visited him or signed letters urging him to end the fast.On the other hand, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has called for nationwide “peaceful protests” to continue, demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.“The Cockroach Janata Party’s peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar will continue until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns,” Dipke said in a statement after Wangchuk ended his hunger strike.
