India, Sept. 1 -- Activist Sonam Wangchuk has revealed that he softened his demand for Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation during negotiations with the government, making protection from legal harassment of protesting students his "non-negotiable" condition for ending his hunger strike.

Wangchuk, speaking to Prakhar Gupta on the PGX podcast, said that by July 22 he no longer considered Pradhan's resignation his top priority as he became increasingly concerned about the possibility of violence spreading to other cities.

"By 22 I didn't see resignation as the first priority," Sonam Wangchuk said, adding that he was also considering the damage the continued demand for resignation was causing.

He said he began to beli...