Beloved educator's detention fuels India's biggest protests in years

In India, the detention of a beloved educator on hunger strike has turned into its largest anti-government protests in years. Transcript MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: In India, thousands of young people are protesting against the government, even after a violent police response. As NPR's Omkar Khandekar reports, the movement was propelled by one man's hunger strike.OMKAR KHANDEKAR, BYLINE: Fifty-nine-year-old Sonam Wangchuk wears many hats. He's an environmentalist who innovated ice stupas, a technique of building artificial glaciers for irrigation in the Himalayas. He's an education activist who worked to bring back Indigenous knowledge to classrooms. But the first time most people in India heard of him was after the Bollywood movie "3 Idiots."(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEHTI HAWA SA THA WOH")SHAAN AND SHANTANU MOITRA: (Singing) Behti hawa sa tha woh.KHANDEKAR: The film is about three friends in a top Indian university reeling under academic pressure. Its lead character, played by Indian star Aamir Khan, is widely seen to be inspired by Sonam Wangchuk. When the film was released in 2009, many identified with Khan's character, speaking of India's broken education system.(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "3 IDI...