By Cedric Prakash
Ahmedabad, July 19, 2026: With more than 20 days of the hunger strike of noted environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk.
Early this morning, the Delhi police forcibly ( and against his will) admitted him to a hospital ,apparently due to his deteriorating health condition.
Wangchuk with some other students were on a fast in support of the demands of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).
Since almost a month now, led by Abhijeet Dipke, hundreds of youth have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar.
They are demanding the resignation of Education Minister, after a key entrance exam for aspiring doctors — called the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) was cancelled in early May, following a paper leak
They say, he must take moral responsibility for the leak and resign immediately. Today the protestors were also demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister too. They plan to go on a protest march to Parliament on 20 July.
Yet the Government refuses to relent and dialogue with the protestors. Horrible shame, indeed!
Education is in the doldrums! The regime should ask itself as to why hundreds of thousands of Indian youth are desperate to study in schools and universities abroad.
First in this beeline are the children of Ministers and other Government officials.
The National Education Policy (NEP) is exclusionary. It does not provide the much-needed holistic, inclusive, objective and contextual education.
In the recently published ‘Academic Freedom Index,’ India stands tenth among countries, where academic freedom is being throttled and universities are not allowed to function independently.
The Government is attempting to cut the grants of the well-known national think-tank the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) which has contributed immensely to the intellectual fibre and calibre of the country.
Teachers in schools today are caught up in ‘Government duties’ like the census enumeration or election work. Horrible shame, indeed!
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), an exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India to verify and revise electoral rolls, continues like a juggernaut disenfranchising thousands of legitimate citizens all over the country.
Those who are deleted from the electoral rolls are the poor and the vulnerable, the minorities (mainly Muslims) and other marginalised sections of society. T
hose who toe the regime’s line, have nothing to fear. Their names will not be deleted. The ECI is guilty of a heinous crime against the citizens of India! Horrible shame, indeed!
Corruption is mainstreamed in the country. The regime in power is perhaps the most corrupt political dispensation in the world!
They have amassed hoards of wealth through demonetisation, electoral bonds and PM cares fund.
Besides the all-scale loot of temples like the Ram Mandir(UP), Badrinath Temple (Uttarakhand),Sabarimala Temple (Kerala), Kedarnath Temple (Uttarakhand) and Ambaji Temple (Gujarat).
The sacrifices of genuine devotees are plundered, which will easily put the colonialists of yesteryears to shame. Some regimes’ crony capitalist friends have a field day looting the country and profiteering.
One has to have a look at the palatial RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) Centre in Delhi or the plush BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) offices all over the country to ask “whose money is being used?”
There is a total lack of transparency and accountability at every level. Horrible shame, indeed!
Look at the roster of all the elected representatives/officials of political parties who left their own party and gone to the BJP. Many of them have cases criminal proceedings against them.
Once they go to the BJP everything is ‘forgiven and conveniently forgotten.’
Take for example, the BJP CM of West Bengal, there is plenty of video evidence of the prime minister, lambasting him when he was in the All India Trinamool Congress party he now defeated, as being one of the most corrupt persons of the country.
However there is the BJP washing machime which can easily wash away all your crimes and even make you CM!
Those politicians with apparently no crimes , are offerred crores of rupees in black money, they are cajoled and even threatened with dire consequences if they do not succuumb ! Horrible shame, indeed!
India was ranked 157 out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index released recently.
The country was placed in the ‘very serious’ category due to the criminalization of journalism, weaponisation of national security laws, and highly concentrated media ownership. What an embarassment! Horrible shame, indeed!
Minorities in the country continue to be on the receiving end! Thousands of Muslims have been disenfranchised, their homes have been demolished, their nationality and patriotism, questioned.
On June 15, the Superintendent of Police in the Gujarat State Police Services (SPS), issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Gujarat’s new Anti Radicalisation Cell (ARC).
The contents of the SOP clearly target the Muslims and are blatantly anti-Constitutional and communal.
There is a demand from several quarters that this terrible circular be withdrawn and unconditionally. Christians are also systematically targeted. Bogeys of ‘forced conversion’ are consistently raised.
There is documented evidence of hundreds of attacks on Christians.
Recently, a Catholic School in Jabalpur was attacked by ‘hindutva’ goons on the false pretext of conversions; in West Bengal a group of Sisters were threatened by a mob to stop the construction of a Chapel and cemetery for which they have the necessary permissions.
There are official threats to take over lands and property belonging to the Christians. The anti–conversion laws put in place in many BJP-ruled States are an attempt to de-focus from other realities which the nation faces today.
They are violative of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion. Horrible shame, indeed!
‘Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026’ is likely to be taken up in the coming session of Parliament.
The Bill targets voluntary organisations and other civil society groups, who are doing exemplary work for the all-round progress and development of the country.
The poor will suffer the most, if this bill is passed. Horrible shame, indeed!
What is at stake today, is the soul of India! The right of every single citizen to justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, all the freedom guaranteed in our sacred Constitution.
This is not happening. Until such time we restore reality to its original goodness, need to say Horrible shame, indeed! And we must do all we can, to overcome it!
(Jesuit Cedric Prakash is a renowned human rights, reconciliation, and peace activist trainer and writer. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com)
(Photo by pixabay.com)