Shabana Azmi asks Sonam Wangchuk to end hunger strike: ‘Ladai aage tak ladni hai’ | Bollywood News

A day after celebrities like Zeenat Aman, Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak, and Omi Vaidya extended support to Sonam Wanchuk’s ongoing hunger strike, more of them from the Hindi film industry joined the chorus. These included veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Soni Razdan, actors Abhay Deol and Shreya Dhanwanthary, television actor Rubina Dilaik, and lyrics Swanand Kirkire and Varun Grover among others.Shabana took to her Instagram handle on Tuesday evening and shared the viral picture of the environmental looking weak and pale on the ongoing hunger strike. “Dear Sonam Wangchuk, our country gravely needs a person like you. You’re standing against injustice, in favour of the truth. We’re all very proud of you,” she wrote in the caption.
“That’s why we request you to end your hunger strike because your guidance really encourages our students. Yeh ladayi aage tak ladni hai (We need to fight this for a long time). For that, it’s important you stay healthy. We’re all with you,” added the actor. In the past, Shabana has advocated in favour of slum rehabilitation in Mumbai, participating in street protests.
Soni Razdan
Soni Razdan also took to her Instagram handle on Wednesday morning and shared a note. “Dear Sonam Wangchuk, For your health, we all do pray. Please do not leave us in this way. Please live to fight another day. Please stay. Please end your fast today,” the note read. She also wrote in the caption, “We need you. Don’t leave us (folded hands emoji),” while tagging Wanchuk.
Soni Razdan
Abhay Deol
Abhay Deol also shared the viral picture of Sonam on hunger strike on his Instagram handle on Tuesday, along with a broken heart emoji. His Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Dev.D (2009) co-star Kalki Koechlin also commented a heartbreak emoji on his post. So did popular 1990s Bollywood leading lady, Pooja Batra. Pooja also shared a message on her Instagram Stories with a picture of Wangchuk. “He is fighting for us. And our future generations. If we remain quiet, we should be ashamed of ourselves. Support in whatever way you can. But support this man,” said the message.
Abhay Deol.
Rubina Dilaik
Television actor Rubina Dilailk reposted Zeenat Aman’s post in favour of Wangchuk on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “He is a real hero. Don’t let him die fighting for our country’s own good,” she wrote along with it. Zeenat didn’t ask Wangchuk to end his hunger strike. Instead, the veteran actor “implored” the Indian government to “open dialogue on this matter”.
Rubina Dilaik.
Varun Grover
National Award-winning lyric, filmmaker, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian Varun Grover took to his X handle on Tuesday and shared a picture of Wangchuk on hunger strike. “Maybe CJP and Mr. Wangchuk started this hunger strike under the delusion that the govt. has a heart for students killed/traumatised NEET paper leak. Maybe they were under no illusions but at least hoped for a tsunami of support from the students they are protesting for,” he wrote.Story continues below this ad
“Or maybe they knew it all and still went ahead because that’s what revolutions sometimes demand — a delusion that people care for their own issues, a wishful thinking that our kings have a soul or at least some basic decency. And that’s why most revolutions fail because they are not meant to succeed but to remind and document — that power has an infinite appetite for violence, especially when the opponent is non-violent,” added Grover.
Varun Grover.
Swanand Kirkire
Grover’s fellow lyric and longtime collaborator Swanand Kirkire also took to his X handle and asked why the primary opposition party, Indian National Congress, is absent from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests, where Wangchuk is doing the hunger strike. “Why isn’t Congress doing anything on its own? If everything is a conspiracy against Congress, what’s stopping it from sitting on a hunger strike?,” he wrote.
“The people protesting seem to be fighting for a legitimate cause. They aren’t demanding something abstract like the Jan Lokpal. The students are real, and their grievances appear real. If Congress believes there’s a conspiracy against it, wouldn’t the best way to expose or neutralize it be to join hands with these protesters?,” added the actor.
Swanand Kirkire.
Shreya Dhanwanthary
Shreya Dhanwanthary, actor best known for appearing in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) and The Great Shamsuddin Family last year, also wrote on X, “I hate that I’m about to say this but please sir, consider ending your fast. Sonam Wangchuk is using a peaceful expression of rebellion against a government that has shown little to no moral conscience. Sir, you cannot reason with an apathetic state.”Story continues below this ad

Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike
Wednesday, July 15 marks the 25th day of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest at Jantar Mantar and the 18th day of Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike. They’ve demanded Education Miner Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) examination.
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Wangchuk joined the agitation on June 28 and has been on an indefinite fast since then. The organisation has announced a march to Parliament on July 20. “It is in the long-term interest of the government to len to the voice of the people. He should be sensitive, not rigid. A democracy is run through empathy and compassion, not through rigidity,” Wanchuk told The Indian Express on Monday.