Sixty-six retired senior government officers in a formal, collective statement and appeal addressed to the renowned educationist and innovator, Sonam Wangchuk, have expressed concern for his health who is on a 18 day hunger strike.
The retired officers include former members of the IAS, IPS, IFS, and other central services—who possess extensive experience working with central and state governments.
Writing as politically aware but non-partisan citizens, the signatories while acknowledging the hunger strike as a principled, Gandhian form of desperate protest, the signatories draw on their governance experience to caution that the current administration may view responding to public protest as a sign of defeat.
Fearing that the protestors’ vital sacrifices will go unheeded by an unprincipled government, they passionately urge Sonam Wangchuk and his fellow hunger strikers to call off the strike, preserving their health and lives for the “bigger battles” that lie ahead for the nation.
