When news emerged that Sonam Wangchuk, had allegedly been taken forcibly to hospital after his prolonged hunger strike, I found myself reflecting on a strange contradiction in our country,
You may go hungry because you have no job. You may stand in ration queues. You may wonder whether your next meal will come from your salary or your neighbour’s kindness. But if you deliberately decide not to eat, then suddenly the entire machinery of the State discovers you need nutrition immediately.
There is something wonderfully ironic about it all.
Millions struggle silently with empty stomachs, and nobody rushes towards them carrying glucose bottles. But begin a hunger strike with television cameras nearby and ambulances appear, police arrive, doctors assemble and somebody urgently announces that your life must be saved.
What a comforting thought.
We may argue endlessly about unemployment, inflation, corruption, collapsing institutions, shrinking freedoms, intimidated journalists or weakened opposition voices. Those discussions can wait. But heaven forbid someone should become the first person to die because he refused to eat while protesting. That headline would travel far beyond our borders, and headlines are far more dangerous than hunger.
History has always had an uncomfortable habit of embarrassing governments.
A man quietly starving in protest has often frightened rulers far more than thousands shouting slogans. A fasting protest asks awkward questions. It forces everyone to choose whether they will look away or keep looking. That is why the faster eventually becomes more inconvenient than the issue he is protesting.
So comes the rescue.
The police gently, or not so gently, step in. The hospital bed replaces the pavement. The saline drip replaces the empty plate. The government can now proudly announce that it values human life.
One almost wishes this extraordinary compassion would become a national policy.
Imagine if every hungry child received the same urgency. Imagine if every struggling farmer were treated like a national emergency. Imagine if every threatened journalist received the same protection. Imagine if every whistleblower exposing corruption were guarded with the same determination. Imagine if every citizen seeking justice found the State moving as swiftly as it does when an embarrassing protest begins attracting international attention.
That would truly be a miracle worth celebrating.
No civilised nation wants a protester to die on its streets. On that principle, most of us would agree. Human life matters. But if saving a life becomes more important than hearing the reason that life is being risked, then the hospital becomes only another waiting room where inconvenient questions are quietly placed on oxygen.
Perhaps the greatest satire of all is this.
In a nation where so many people fight every day for food, freedom, fairness and a voice, the one man who voluntarily refuses food receives the fastest government service of all.
This government does not merely speak. It arrives carrying a stretcher..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
This is so true your article gave me the shivers. I often wonder when the starving and sick see this discrepancy how it must hurt them. The world has beconlme such a sad place. Wherever you look you see suffering. 😔
In the most recent Global Hunger Index assessment (2025) India ranked 102nd out of 123 countries with a score of 25.8, classifying its hunger level as “serious”. This classification was weighed down heavily by one of the world’s highest child wasting rates at 18.7%. Other indicators for the country include prevalence of undernourishment: 12.0%Child stunting rate: 32.9%Under-five mortality rate: 2.8%. What an irony??
The people will still vote for statusquo. So what if they arent heard. So what if the jobs & livelihoods dry up. So what if…the list goes on. Because the people believe there’s no option. They’ve given away their power to think and speak up.
Hunger scares the daylights of the wrongdoer
Ur article has opened up a Pandora’s box of negligence n heartless of our leaders n men in authority. We the people do our best to b heard but our voices fall on deaf ears. The overhead metro line cutting across SV Rd. is a classic example of how deaf were the authorities to our pleas. Today our living quarters r naked as the station is just 3 meters away from our home . We will hv to live without sunlight entering our homes blocked air and pollution n noise that will ensue once the 2 B metro starts. Lord save us.