While activist Sonam Wangchuk remains in hospital after being taken away by the police from Jantar Mantar, his wife Gitanjali J Angmo has appeared as one of the leading faces of his protest for greater transparency and accountability in the education system.
Wangchuk had been on a hunger strike for three weeks against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET paper leak, with his wife being a constant pillar of support.
Angmo later told NDTV that her husband continued his hunger strike even in hospital, refusing any fluid except salt and water. Nothing should be given to him orally or intravenously without the consent of her, his family, or doctors monitoring him, she has stressed.
Read: “He Is Still On Hunger Strike”: Sonam Wangchuk’s Wife To NDTV After His Hospitalisation
She has also vowed to lead Monday’s march to parliament as it resumes for the Monsoon Session. “If Sonam Wangchuk can’t join the march, I will represent him and lead that march,” she has said.
Who Is Gitanjali Angmo?
Gitanjali Angmo is a social entrepreneur and educationist. She has founded several businesses and social ventures over the years, but she is best known as the co-founder of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL) alongside Wangchuk.
She now serves as the founding CEO and dean at HIAL, an alternative institute for mountain development that focuses on challenges faced by the Himalayan communities. From green campuses to passive solar-heated buildings, HIAL works on several sustainable technologies and has even developed solar-heated tents for the Army in 2021.
Angmo was born in Odisha’s Balasore to a Punjabi family and did her graduation in physics from Fakir Mohan University and an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar.
Having spent about 15 years in the corporate sector, mostly in Denmark, she returned to India to pursue her entrepreneurial journey. Since then, she has launched several ventures such as Pushan, Shanghai Power Projects Ltd, and the Helios Books publishing house.
Blog: Barricades, Security Cordon, Questions: Inside Sonam Wangchuk’s Emergency Ward
On her LinkedIn profile, she also refers to herself as a spiritual seeker who teaches Vedanta and the Gita. A Chevening fellow, she is also the recipient of the government’s Women Transforming India national award. Besides, she is also a black belt in Karate and an Odissi and Russian Ballet dancer.
She is the second wife of Wangchuk.
In an interview with Brut last year, she had revealed that she met Wangchuk at an education conference – a meeting that made her feel she had “found a kindred soul”. She stressed she wanted to “live for a cause larger than herself.”
Wangchuk was earlier married to Rebecca Norman, an American.
Low Profile, Big Support
Angmo has generally maintained a low profile but was always found beside her husband when needed. She emerged to be his biggest pillar of support when he was detained last year under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
Wangchuk was detained in September after four people died during his protests in Ladakh over the demands of statehood and inclusion in the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule. Angmo had then approached the Supreme Court challenging his detention and even written to the President for her intervention.
Wangchuk was eventually released after nearly 170 days in detention. “My ordeal of making two trips every week for just a 60-minute meeting over the past five months has finally ended,” Angmo had then written in an emotional post.
