Anna Hazare, Irom Sharmila and Swami Nigmanand. Do you know what is common between these three people? Ok, here is a clue. Add Baba Ramdev to this list. Now? Yes, you guessed it right. They have all gone on fast unto death for some cause or the other.
But is it really that simple and are they really like each other. Nopes, not at all. Anna Hazare achieved his cause or at least has a chance of achieving it. Baba Ramdev almost got what he wanted but failed to close the deal, but earned a lot of fans or at least dented the congress credibility. We know what both their cause was.
Now coming to Irom Sharmila. She is from Manipur a North Eastern state in India. She is fighting for the revocation of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from her home state. She is continuing her fast for last 10 years.
Swami Nigamanand is also from Haridwar as Ramdev, fighting a much more holy cause of saving the Ganga (Ganges) from illegal mining. He died yesterday fighting for his cause after fasting for 115 days.
This has forced me to really think whether fast unto death is really a powerful tool. After much deliberation with myself I have concluded that you need 3 things for you to acheive your cause by this means.
1. You should be able to create a huge media hype and create public awareness and support.
2. The person/group that is supposed to address your concern should really have a conscience or its has group of people to answer to.
3. You should be thick skinned to suffer any amount of character assassination and insult attempts made at you.
If you look at the four cases that I put forth to you and include the test case of Mahatma Gandhi also to this list you can see the difference.
When Anna Hazare went on hunger strike the media hype and his team's holier than thou attitude of not allowing politicians on stage actually created a public awareness and support. This, though sadly I have to say was even without actually understanding what they were fighting for and what Lokpal will actually do for them.
Baba Ramdev went on hunger strike with much fanfare and got almost what he wanted (at least publicly what he wanted). But his ineptitude in handling negotiations landed him in a soup. You know what happened next. Even here he has gained a lot of admirers and ensured that the Govt lost the few admirers who were left with them.
My point 3 is basically derived from the top 2 stories. Look at the kind of attempts that were made on Baba Ramdev by Congress and Government. All kind of stories started appearing in the media, even about the origin of Acharya Bala krishna. The government did not have a problem when he got his passport and gun. The moment he started a strike he is being questioned. This way 80% Indians can't question the government. We all have some baggage or other.
Just as a side note. I tried to do an analysis on what the government will accuse me of? Actually I could not find anything except having watched Porn (well who hasn't, at least once. lol). May be they can make it look really bad and frame me into anything. Anyway I am not going on fast unto death even otherwise at least. lolz
Now, coming to the story of Irom Sharmila. She started her strike in November 2000 after some innocent civilians were killed by army (allegedly). She went on a fast unto strike at Manipur itself. She once came to Delhi. She never courted controversy or try to add fanfare to her mission. Hence here issue is still not addressed. He issue is not a national concern and there is no value in talking to her or being good to her.
Swami Nigamanad's case is also similar to Irom and the most ironic part is this. He fought for the Ganga in a state ruled by a Party (BJP) which promotes and aligns itself to the hindutva ideology. Even more ironic is that every day it is throwing dirt at congress where as this Swami went on strike against illegal mining in Ganga. So much for accountability and righteousness.
In case of Gandhiji his fights were successful because of the awareness against the British Raj and more importantly because the British had a conscience or in other words their citizens to answer to. The current government has nobody to answer to. By the time they are to leave office it will be another three years and they know that since opposition is also made of the same kinda of metal they will be back in power one day or another. There were limits to which the British were ready to go. I really do not think the cheap tricks of character assassination would have been tried by the British against Anna Hazare or Ramdev that the current government is trying.
Just one last argument. When the Indian Airline was hijacked the government was quick to negotiate with the terrorist even after knowing that their motives we demonic. They are ready to speak and allow the Kashmiri extremist leader Geelani gives anti India speeches even in Delhi. They will still beat up the innocent civilians in Ramlila Midan. Try all dirty tricks on Anna Hazare and will never speak to Irom or be sad about the death of Swami Nigamanad.
That my friend is the great political class of My Great India.
But is it really that simple and are they really like each other. Nopes, not at all. Anna Hazare achieved his cause or at least has a chance of achieving it. Baba Ramdev almost got what he wanted but failed to close the deal, but earned a lot of fans or at least dented the congress credibility. We know what both their cause was.
Now coming to Irom Sharmila. She is from Manipur a North Eastern state in India. She is fighting for the revocation of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from her home state. She is continuing her fast for last 10 years.
Swami Nigamanand is also from Haridwar as Ramdev, fighting a much more holy cause of saving the Ganga (Ganges) from illegal mining. He died yesterday fighting for his cause after fasting for 115 days.
This has forced me to really think whether fast unto death is really a powerful tool. After much deliberation with myself I have concluded that you need 3 things for you to acheive your cause by this means.
1. You should be able to create a huge media hype and create public awareness and support.
2. The person/group that is supposed to address your concern should really have a conscience or its has group of people to answer to.
3. You should be thick skinned to suffer any amount of character assassination and insult attempts made at you.
If you look at the four cases that I put forth to you and include the test case of Mahatma Gandhi also to this list you can see the difference.
When Anna Hazare went on hunger strike the media hype and his team's holier than thou attitude of not allowing politicians on stage actually created a public awareness and support. This, though sadly I have to say was even without actually understanding what they were fighting for and what Lokpal will actually do for them.
Baba Ramdev went on hunger strike with much fanfare and got almost what he wanted (at least publicly what he wanted). But his ineptitude in handling negotiations landed him in a soup. You know what happened next. Even here he has gained a lot of admirers and ensured that the Govt lost the few admirers who were left with them.
My point 3 is basically derived from the top 2 stories. Look at the kind of attempts that were made on Baba Ramdev by Congress and Government. All kind of stories started appearing in the media, even about the origin of Acharya Bala krishna. The government did not have a problem when he got his passport and gun. The moment he started a strike he is being questioned. This way 80% Indians can't question the government. We all have some baggage or other.
Just as a side note. I tried to do an analysis on what the government will accuse me of? Actually I could not find anything except having watched Porn (well who hasn't, at least once. lol). May be they can make it look really bad and frame me into anything. Anyway I am not going on fast unto death even otherwise at least. lolz
Now, coming to the story of Irom Sharmila. She started her strike in November 2000 after some innocent civilians were killed by army (allegedly). She went on a fast unto strike at Manipur itself. She once came to Delhi. She never courted controversy or try to add fanfare to her mission. Hence here issue is still not addressed. He issue is not a national concern and there is no value in talking to her or being good to her.
Swami Nigamanad's case is also similar to Irom and the most ironic part is this. He fought for the Ganga in a state ruled by a Party (BJP) which promotes and aligns itself to the hindutva ideology. Even more ironic is that every day it is throwing dirt at congress where as this Swami went on strike against illegal mining in Ganga. So much for accountability and righteousness.
In case of Gandhiji his fights were successful because of the awareness against the British Raj and more importantly because the British had a conscience or in other words their citizens to answer to. The current government has nobody to answer to. By the time they are to leave office it will be another three years and they know that since opposition is also made of the same kinda of metal they will be back in power one day or another. There were limits to which the British were ready to go. I really do not think the cheap tricks of character assassination would have been tried by the British against Anna Hazare or Ramdev that the current government is trying.
Just one last argument. When the Indian Airline was hijacked the government was quick to negotiate with the terrorist even after knowing that their motives we demonic. They are ready to speak and allow the Kashmiri extremist leader Geelani gives anti India speeches even in Delhi. They will still beat up the innocent civilians in Ramlila Midan. Try all dirty tricks on Anna Hazare and will never speak to Irom or be sad about the death of Swami Nigamanad.
That my friend is the great political class of My Great India.
