Who is Gitanjali Angmo? Meet Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, who is leading his campaign after the activist’s hospitalization | Today’s news

For most of climate activist and education reformer Sonam Wangchuk’s public life, his wife Gitanjali J Angmo has stayed out of the limelight. That changed dramatically over the weekend after Wangchuk was moved from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to Safdarjung Hospital amid his ongoing hunger strike.

With concerns about his health, it was Angmo who addressed her supporters, questioning the circumstances of his hospitalization and vowing to continue the movement if her husband was unable to.

“If Sonam Wangchuk cannot join the march, I will stand in for him and lead this march,” she said on Saturday.

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Gitanjali Angmo stepped into a prominent role during Sonam Wangchuk’s hospitalization, vowing to continue the movement if he is unable and actively reaching out to his supporters and the media regarding his health and protests.

Angmo protested Wangchuk’s treatment at the hospital over concerns of a lack of transparency, insisting that no medical procedure would be carried out without her consent and that of the family.

Gitanjali Angmo first met Sonam Wangchuk at an education conference where she felt an instant connection as they shared similar ideals about education and life.

Sonam Wangchuk has started a hunger strike to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination and related issues affecting students.

Gitanjali Angmo has been a constant supporter during Wangchuk’s legal challenges, including going to the Supreme Court during his previous detention and advocating for his rights in the health care system.

The statement came after Wangchuk was taken to a hospital by the Delhi Police. Angmo protested the move and insisted that no treatment be administered without the family’s consent.

In a post on X, she wrote: “I am at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi where Sonam Wangchuk has been admitted. Nothing should be given to him orally or intravenously without consent from me, his family and his doctors who have been monitoring his health for the past 20 days.”

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Throughout the day, she continued to post updates from the hospital and questioned the restrictions placed on visitors.

“Why are they not letting our phones in? Why is there so much police presence? It seems it’s not Safdarjung Hospital but Safdarjung Jail,” she wrote.

In another post, she claimed Wangchuk’s treatment was not transparent enough and said the family had asked to be released from the hospital.

According to the Delhi Police, the decision to shift Wangchuk to the hospital was taken in accordance with the directions of the Delhi High Court and on the advice of medical experts.

Wangchuk has been on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the examination system, including the NEET-UG paper leak, and issues related to student suicides.

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Earlier in an interview with The Hindu, Angmo described her husband’s decision to join the protest organized by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as “organic” and said she wanted to ensure that “shameful” elements did not derail the movement.

Who is Gitanjali J Angmo?

Social entrepreneur and educator Gitanjali J Angmo is best known as the co-founder of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives in Ladakh (HIAL), which she founded with Sonam Wangchuk in 2017.

The institute promotes experiential learning and develops practical solutions to challenges faced by Himalayan communities. Her work includes green campuses, passive solar-heated buildings and other sustainable technologies. In 2021, HIAL also developed solar heated tents for the Indian Army. In addition, the institute offers scholarships and short-term courses. However, last year, HIAL came under the CBI’s scrutiny for alleged foreign funding violations.

Read also | ‘Wrong’: Rahul Gandhi slams government in first statement on Jantar Mantar protest

Born in Balasore, Odisha to a Punjabi family, Angmo studied Physics at Fakir Mohan University and then completed his MBA at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

She later spent nearly 15 years in the corporate sector, most of it in Denmark, before returning to India to pursue entrepreneurship. She went on to start businesses, including Pushan, Shanghai Power Projects Ltd and Helios Books.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Angmo is also a Black Belt in karate, an accomplished Odissi and Russian ballet dancer, a Chevening Scholar from the University of Oxford and a recipient of the Women Transforming India Award from the government.

She describes herself as a “spiritual seeker” in her LinkedIn bio. Her personal website says she is a “lifelong student of the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, the Vedas and the Upanishads.”

Finding a ‘Soul Mate’

In an interview with Brut in 2025, Angmo talked about first meeting Sonam Wangchuk at an educational conference.

“It was interesting to see us finish each other’s sentences. There were so many similarities in the way we wanted to work in education and life in general,” she said.

She also said that she always wanted to “live for a cause bigger than herself” and that meeting Wangchuk was “like finding a soul mate”.

Wangchuk was previously married to Rebecca Norman, an American citizen. The marriage ended in divorce before he married Angmo.

A constant presence during Wangchuk’s legal battles

Although she remained largely out of the public eye, Angmo emerged as a key supporter when Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) following protests in Ladakh over demands for statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the constitution.

During his detention in the Jodhpur Central Jail, she approached the Supreme Court challenging his continued detention and also wrote to the President seeking his intervention.

After Wangchuk was released after nearly 170 days in custody, Angmo shared an emotional post on X.

“My ordeal of taking two trips each week for just 60 minutes for the past five months is finally over,” she wrote.

Although she largely stayed away from the site of the protest after Wangchuk began his latest hunger strike, opting instead to write posts in support of the movement, his hospitalization thrust her into an unfamiliar public role.

With Wangchuk unable to attend the planned march to parliament on July 20, Angmo said she was ready to continue campaigning in his stead, making her one of the movement’s most visible faces today.