Fasting is not new to India. In fact, it must have been born in India and is embedded in the psyche of Indians. It echoes in the tradition, heritage and culture of India. Sages have fasted ages before for extracting boons granted from the Gods of Hinduism. Even house holders in India fast on auspicious days and chosen days of every week. Islamic men fast during the Ramadan month.
Mahatma Gandhi cleverly converted fast into a powerful, political weapon against the colonial, yet some what decent oppressors, the British. He continued to use it against his own nation when the Hindu-Muslim riots broke soon after the partition, in 1947 and also against B.R.Ambedkar’s demand for reserved seats in assembly and parliamentary constituencies.
Later on fast has been used by all and sundry to put pressure on democratically elected rulers. Probably the longest running protest fast in the history of mankind is by a Manipuri young woman Irom Sharmila, whose demand is the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives the men in uniform the powers to shoot any one to death just on suspicion. Obviously these kinds of draconian laws will be misused, and they are mostly misused in trouble torn Manipur state and in parts of J&K. Since Manipur is far away, the powers that be in New Delhi, haven’t heard of her cries so far.
And the shortest fast in the recorded History is by Dr.M.Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. It started just after breakfast and ended before lunch as the demands were met by the central government. He was demanding the stopping of aerial bombings on the Sri Lankan Tamils. Just days after, all the bombings stopped, as almost 2,00,000 Tamil civilians and rebels were wiped out by the Sri Lankan army.
Recently fast became a headline news and electronic media’s darling, after Anna Hazare, an ex- service man turned Gandhian, social over-activist protested against growing corruption and wanted a special law to check it. He was advised by well wishers in the media to postpone his fast till the ICC world cup final gets over, as the cricket crazy nation would not bother much about corruption and things like that, when world cup was happening.
Anna took the advice in letter and spirit and his fast was cleverly sandwiched between the close of ICC world cup and the inauguration of IPL. He somewhat succeeded in arm twisting the Central Government and took an assurance that the Jan Lok Pal Bill will be tabled in Parliament within a stipulated time.
Just after Anna’s fast, which was given a larger than life coverage by the electronic media, a famous Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who has openly declared his political ambitions, jumped into the fast arena. He flew down to New Delhi
But the Central Government preempted the move of Ramdev by forcefully removing him from fast area and deported him to Haridwar. The way Ramdev was removed along with his followers with stern police action told in no uncertain terms that the government cannot entertain tamashas by communal forces.
BRD became a laughing stock around the country and he did not even know how to come out of the fast. The supporters of Baba sought the help of another Hindu Swami, Sri Sri Ravisankar, who unabashedly, tried to ‘persuade’ BRD to give up(?) fast. Finally after six days of fast drama, with anti-climax looming large over him, the ‘yoga guru’, who cured terminal diseases ranging from AIDS to Cancer with his Ashtanga Yoga techniques, was treated in Intensive Care Unit of an allopathic hospital, and hopelessly ‘gave up’ the fast..
These two fasts raised certain fundamental questions about the Indian polity. India has a very active electoral democratic system in force and barring a brief period after Indira Gandhi imposed emergency on the country to serve her political ends, the electoral democracy is functioning rather very successfully, considering the sheer geographical size and a mammoth, mostly illiterate population.
The courts also are functioning rather unbiased to larger extent. When the two pillars of democracy and the independent media are free and uncontrolled, why this extra constitutional fasting authorities trying to impose certain agendas on the public?
Certain social activists like Dr.Kanacha Ilaiah, feel its a deliberate attempt to divert the attention from the real issues of the working class like child labor (India has 600 Million child labor), illiteracy, farmers’ suicide, untouchabiliy etc.
The fast of Anna was widely publicized by the media and had the lip support of the affluent middle class. There were arguments and counter arguments in facebook and twitter. But life in the real India was going on usual, without even bothering for a second about the outcomes of the fasts.
Though Hazares and Ramdevs claim they have mass base, in reality, it is the so called ‘corrupt’ politicians who have connections with the rural and urban masses of India, As Maximus quips in the Gladiator, ‘they win the crowd and win the power’.
Jayaprakash Narayan and before him Gandhiji too have won the people and won freedom. But the present fasts by Hazare, and Baba Ramdev and their furious statements are just paper tigers or you can say ‘on line tigers’, precisely.
Some section of people are fed up with politicians making huge money, in fact envious of them. In India corruption is ‘omniscient’. May be 10% of the population is not indulging in corrupt practices, the rest are active players in all sorts of corruption. Unless the people of India change you can never eradicate corruption from India. The Lokpal or the officer will become all powerful and instead of corrupting many, they will corrupt an individual and ultimately he may become the most corrupt person in India. It will lead to non-proliferation of corruption…
Let the people of India change.
A mass based leader can inculcate the values of being non corrupt and he should set an example by leading a clean life. The need of the hour is a Hero A mass hero, who can deliver goods. A hero will have to rise…
