A group of citizens on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to “open a dialogue” with the students who have been on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, since June 28.

Three members of the All India Students’ Association - Neha Bora, Manish Kumar and Aameen Amitosh - had started the hunger strike along with activist Sonam Wangchuk demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan due to the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.

The fast is a part of a protest led by the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party. It entered its 22nd day on Sunday.

On Saturday, Wangchuk was forcibly taken to hospital by the Delhi Police. The police claimed that he had been shifted to hospital for “essential medical care” in compliance with a High Court order.

The letter said that instead of talking to Wangchuk, the government “forcibly” removed him to the hospital, where he remains “against his will and is not allowed to meet visitors freely”.

The letter further added that even while taking the “extraordinary step” of removing Wangchuk, the government continued to display a “callous disregard” for the protesting students as if “their lives were of little consequence”.

“If anything untoward happens to any of them then the responsibility for it will lie squarely on your government’s shoulders,” the letter read.

Among the signatories to the letter were economist Prabhat Patnaik, activist Harsh Mander, retired Indian Administrative Service officer Najeeb Jung and journalist Prabir Purkayastha.

Soon after Wangchuk was taken away from the protest site, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke began an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday.

Dipke called for nationwide peaceful protests. “We need to send a message that the people won’t accept this kind of dictatorship,” he said in a video shared by the political campaign.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.