Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi realized a pugnacious truth long ago - In a nation of a billion hungry people, fasting was the easiest and most natural action to comprehend and identify with. There were no complications that you would normally associate with michils (ask the Bengali dada lok), picketing or any other form of protests; also, everyone understood the implications of a fast. Then again, for a well fed British empire, fasting was an incomprehensible idea. History bears witness to the tremendous success that he enjoyed in selling the idea to the populace. It was an act of defiance - non-violent but self inflicting. The person fasting was granted heroic status for the rare virtue of self sacrifice while the incumbent authority had the hero’s blood on its hands. It was the perfect recipe for an emotional national unification.
Well, dieting days are here again. I speak not of the womenfolk fasting (on milk and fruits) during Navratra but of the singularly abhorred breed - politicians.
The battle over the Narmada dam, a symbol of 'progress' and beacon of hope for the waterless, has been raging for the past twenty years. However, it always went down as a distant fifth or sixth among hot issues, getting piped by acts of communal indiscretion, cricketing debacles, ailing national leaders, malfunctioning wardrobes, publicly smooching film stars and other ‘important’ issues. Finally a fast unto death forced the whole nation to sit up and take notice. Even those who thought that Narmada was just the pretty girl next-door, let alone the fact that it also flowed through 2 other states, voiced their 'opinions' on national television. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi, in retaliation, also fasted for 51 hours. While that be as it may, this opens up some ‘fast’ questions. Why are people fasting away competitively? What is the significance of a fast-unto-death in the post independence days? After all, isn’t that why we achieved independence, so that people with a cause to defend would not have to fast to be heard? If after half a century of self-rule, the people still have to fast unto death to get justice, it is not anything short of insulting the memory of our independence and the way we achieved it.
My personal view on the NBA and its strategy
The question is not whether the dam should be built or not. That is entirely rhetorical. The dam is essential to the progress of people from 3 states – lets first accept that as a truth. However, progress that is writ with the blood of the very people it is meant to alleviate is regressive. It defeats the purpose of sophistication and civilization. The answer to this is not to stop progress but to provide for the displaced people. It seems unfortunate that even after having heavy weight intellectuals like Medha and Arundhati on their side, the displaced people could not manage to put their finger on the fulcrum point of the issue. The bottom line is this: Stopping the construction of the dam is improbable. If the displaced do not get their demands in order, they could well be steamrolled and have no one to blame for it but themselves.
On a lighter note, more politicians should take up fasting as a means of protest instead of ‘rathing’ around in Toyotas or screaming nasty slogans in the pouring rain. The positive effect would manifest in different ways. Some people would get more food for consumption, some leaders might reduce their cholesterol problems and, if we are lucky, we might just get rid of a few extremely rotten netas!
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