From Gandhi To Wangchuk: Do Hunger Strikes Still Force Governments To Listen?
· Free Press Journal
Educationist and activist Sonam Wangchuk’s fast against our examination system and repeated paper leaks helped ignite student protests across the country. Wangchuk had been on hunger strike from June 28 at Jantar Mantar in this scorching heat for 20 days when he was forcibly picked up from the protest site by the Delhi police and taken to Safdarjung Hospital.
Visit afrikasportnews.co.za for more information.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke and other young supporters began an indefinite hunger strike to protest against Wangchuk’s forcible removal. There were other students like the Punjab-born PhD scholar Ameen, joint secretary of the All India Students Association university chapter, Neha, and Manish who fasted for 23 days before ending their strike earlier this week. Wangchuk ended his hunger strike on July 23 after receiving an assurance that the whole issue of paper leaks would be discussed in detail in Parliament.
Wangchuk has repeatedly used hunger strikes as a political weapon to draw attention to government failures. He has undertaken multiple fasts in Ladakh, including a 21-day fast in March 2024 to demand statehood for Ladakh and also for its inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
By undertaking these fasts he has, like Mahatma Gandhi, turned fasting into a weapon of political resistance, hoping that personal sacrifice would help build up public pressure on an indifferent and tone-deaf government. Despite going on repeated fasts in Ladakh, Wangchuk’s two key demands on statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule required to safeguard Ladakh’s fast-deteriorating environment have not yet been met. In Delhi, too, students have pledged to continue their protests, demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
During the freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had emphasised, “Hunger strikes are conceived as a complete substitute for violence.” Such strikes have been repeatedly used since independence. Sadly, however just the causes are, they have not always met with success.
Take the case of the three sants living in Matri Sadan in Haridwar, who laid down their lives to clean the Ganga and ensure its ‘aviral’ or uninterrupted flow. They were young Swami Nigamand Saraswati (2011), Baba Nag Nath (2013), and one of India’s greatest environmentalists, Professor GD Aggarwal, who went on to wear yellow robes under the name of Swami Sanand, who died in October 2018. All three died when the BJP was in power. All three undertook fasts unto death in the hope that their sacrifice would be heeded by the government, but that did not happen. Prof. Aggarwal, an IIT-Roorkee graduate and Berkeley University scholar, was the first head of the Central Pollution Control Board set up by former prime minister Indira Gandhi. During his tenure, Agrawal realised that the hydroelectric projects being set up on Himalayan rivers would adversely affect both their aviralta (uninterrupted flow) and nirmalta (purity).
It was to save the Ganga that he undertook a series of fasts in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013. It was the month-long fast that he undertook in 2010 that led the then environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, to cancel the three hydro projects on the Bhagirathi River and also to declare the Bhagirathi region, from Gaumukh to Uttarakashi, an eco-sensitive zone. His last fast was 110 days long. BJP leader Uma Bharati tried hard to persuade Prof Aggarwal to break his fast and had Nitin Gadkari, in his earlier avatar as minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, speak to him over the phone. Prof. Aggarwal tried to spell out the steps the minister should take to ensure the flow of the Ganga and other Himalayan rivers remained intact, but Gadkari is reported to have slammed the phone on him.
Prof. Aggarwal had survived for more than 110 days on hot water and honey. The Uttarakhand government, afraid that they would not be able to handle public outcry if Swami Sanand died at Matri Sadan, ordered the district authorities to get him admitted to the AIIMS facility in Rishikesh. When the local subdivisional magistrate, Manish Kumar, arrived at Matri Sadan in the afternoon of October 10, 2018, to take him away, Prof. Aggarwal was seen in a video protesting vehemently while being carried to a waiting ambulance.
Several fasts have resulted in significant regime changes, while others have not achieved the objectives those undertaking them had hoped for. From Mahatma Gandhi’s fasts during the freedom movement to Potti Sriramulu’s demand for Andhra statehood, from Irom Sharmila’s 16-year protest against AFSPA to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign and Wangchuk’s recent fasts over education accountability and Ladakh demands, hunger strikes have remained a form of political pressure in India. Their success depends on public support, but they always carry the risk that the government may not concede to the demands.
Irom Sharmila’s 16-year-old protest against AFSPA did not see the government relent to her demand. She was arrested and remained in custody for 16 years, being forcibly fed through a tube.
Fasting alone does not guarantee a change in policy. In September 2021, another young swami, Swami Atmabodhanand, a computer engineer by training, undertook a fast in Haridwar to stop sand and gravel mining in the Ganga. Sadly, his fast did not create even a ripple in the real estate lobby and the corrupt establishment ruling Uttarakhand. The Ganga and Yamuna remain as dirty as before despite the government having spent over Rs 30,000 crore on cleaning them. Mining of sand and boulders continues at a furious pace across all our rivers.
There is no doubt that social media has changed the way hunger strikes are organised and followed. A central venue such as Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital, right under the nose of the central government and leading media organisations, helps provide greater visibility to a movement. It also helps mobilise supporters.
Student protests across the country in support of the CJP have shown how protestors can now communicate directly with each other. They no longer need the traditional media to highlight their issues. There are innumerable digital platforms that provide 24x7 impartial coverage. It is to these that audiences are turning as an alternative source of information. The widespread support they are receiving has once again shown how important it is for the public to be able to access alternate sources of information.
Rashme Sehgal is an author and an independent journalist.