Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Medha Patkar8217;s fast in New Delhi recalled a form of protest that had almost disappeared. A powerful tool in the hands of the Mahatma and his followers, its decline mirrored the fading away of Gandhian politics. Here are some famous fasts, post-1947
8226; Vinobha Bhave fasted extensively during the mid 1950s, at the peak of the Bhoodan Movement, as he tried to persuade landlords to donate land. His efforts, for which he travelled across the country, saw landowners donate four million acres of land
8226; In 1967, the SHANKARACHARYA OF PURI went on fast in Puri as part of the mass movement for Gauraksha cow protection. This agitation also saw a gherao of Parliament by sadhus
8226; In 1968, Delhi saw fasting by schoolteachers of government-aided schools as part of a movement to demand better service conditions. The movement saw the rise of MADAN LAL KHURANA and Deep Chand Bandhu, and uniquely brought the Congress, Jan Sangh and the Communists on a common platform
8226; 1968 also saw the culmination of an agitation to declare Birla House, the site of Gandhi8217;s assassination, a national monument. Inspired by Gandhian Pandit Sunderlal, about 100 young MPs including Chandra Shekhar, Mohan Dharia and SM Joshi carried out a signature campaign while SHASHI BHUSHAN went on hunger strike for 11 days. The house was handed over to the government in the early 1970s.
8226; In the 1970s and 1980s the CHIPKO and other environmental movements also employed fasting as a form of protest. They were more famous for clinging on to trees, which is how they got their name, but Sunderlal Bahuguna and Badri Dutt Pandey also adopted the Gandhian mode of fasting as a form of protest
