The removal of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk from his indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on Saturday sparked a political row with Opposition leaders accusing the Centre of suppressing peaceful democratic protest and failing to engage with him over his demands.Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi condemned the move, saying the BJP-led government was unwilling to tolerate peaceful dissent.”The core tenets of the Modi government are ‘asatya’ (untruth) and ‘hinsa’ (violence). The removal of Sonam Wangchuk ji from Jantar Mantar, while he was on a non-violent hunger strike, is wrong. Paper leaks, the rising cost of education and student suicides are critical issues for India’s future. No amount of force can deter India’s students and those of us who love and believe in them from raising these issues,” Rahul Gandhi said.Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was “deeply concerned” about Wangchuk’s health and criticised the government’s response to his protest. “He asked only for dialogue, yet his appeal has been met with silence for weeks. In a democracy, peaceful dissent deserves engagement, not silence,” Banerjee said in a post on X. She also said Wangchuk should be allowed to shift to a private hospital if citizens wished to bear the cost, alleging that “a government that treats dissent as a threat instead of a democratic obligation cannot demand trust while evading accountability.”AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Wangchuk had been “forcibly picked up” from the protest site. “Modi ji, out of arrogance, insulted Sonam Wangchuk today. This morning we heard that he was forcibly picked up and his fast was broken. Plainclothes police personnel surrounded him, covered him with bedsheets, misbehaved with him and his companions and took him to hospital,” Kejriwal said in a video message. Drawing a comparison with Mahatma Gandhi’s fasts during the freedom movement, he added, “Even the British did not behave this way. Is this the freedom we fought for? These young people are only demanding a better education system and fair examinations. Instead of addressing those demands, the government’s entire focus is on weakening and discrediting their movement.”Samajwadi Party MP Pushpendra Saroj termed the incident “very unfortunate”, alleging that Wangchuk was forcibly removed despite widespread public support for his protest.The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also condemned the action, saying, “We strongly condemn the forceful detention of Sonam Wangchuk… Instead of acting against those responsible for the exam paper leak scandal, the Modi government is suppressing peaceful democratic protest.”