From Gandhi to this day, fasting as a political weapon

New Delhi, December 14, 2009. - Since getting the issuance of a cricket league to the partition of a federal state, the use of fasting continues to revenues in India, inspired by the struggle of the "Mahatma" Gandhi and strong base in Hindu religion.
The results of the hunger strike as a weapon of political pressure has again been demonstrated in recent days with the government announcement of partition southeastern state of Andhra to create Telangana, after 11 days of fasting regional leader K.Chandrasekhara Rao.
It so happens that the very Andhra born in the 1950s of another hunger strike which killed Potti Sriramulu, whose death fighting for a homeland for Indian Telugu language generated strong political tension that the Government today has tried to avoid.
But the announcement of creation of Telangana has unleashed a storm of protests and resignations of regional deputies, one of which, L. Rajagopal, was arrested today for several hours while returning to Hyderabad with the intention of starting their own protest fast because, they claimed the agents "did not have permission to do so", the agency IANS.
The popularity of the baby fasts of the influence of "Mahatma" (great soul) Gandhi, who frequently resorted to them to combat sectarian violence and also to achieve its political purpose, independence of India, obtained in 1947.
The tactics of the father of Indian independence, inspired by the fasts still in use in Hinduism and Jainism, has set an example in recent decades politicians and citizens.
Buddhist monks calling for Tibetan independence or Hindu priests who want more support for their temples, villagers with demands for better roads, or teachers and nurses who want more wages, they all have been heard in recent months of a hunger strike .
In April, the prisoners in the jail of Calcutta stopped eating to get the school management agreed to give televised league cricket, a sport so popular that players from the hockey also fasted to demand the same attention in sports sections of the Indian media.
In this edition of the "Big Brother", one of the contestants decided to stop eating and drinking to get one of her fellow television venture surrender to his love.
"If I say 'I love you", not "he repeated emaciated but after 36 hours of indifference of his beloved, he left the Gandhian strategy and applied to other purposes.
"For the countless problems that plague India must add a common practice. Every day, some group of idiots launched a hunger strike, "complained an internet forum" Searchindia.com "protest about Telangana.
Example sounded was the Bengali leader Mamata Banerjee, who fasted for 25 days over a stage set up in 2006 on the streets of Calcutta (northeast) to achieve the cessation of a car plant of Tata Motors, which eventually succeeded.
Or the case of the octogenarian head of Government of Tamil Nadu (south), M. Karunanidhi, who appeared one morning last April on a bed lying on the beach in Chennai and fasted for six hours to demand an end to the war in Sri Lanka.
Aware of social sympathy earned by fasting in India, the government frequently access negotiations to placate the strikers, as with Banerjee or Rao.
For political commentator Amulya Ganguli, with the precedent Sriramulu's death in 1952, "if someone can muster the courage to court death, it is virtually impossible for a government to reject his claim" at least as important as state Andhra.
Because sometimes the effort is unsuccessful, as has happened to the remote activist Irom Sharmila of Manipur state, which is being fed forcibly through the nose after eight years using fasts to demand the withdrawal of special powers in the Army Northeast Indian conflict.

Sanjay Dutt, actor and gangster, mischievous and converted

New Delhi, July 31, 2007. - Sanjay Dutt, 48, sentenced today to six years imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons within the process for the attacks in Bombay in 1993, is one of the most popular actors of the Bollywood industry . And has one of the most turbulent past.
Born, like many other Indian stars today, within a dynasty dedicated to the film industry, Dutt was an early victim of his addiction to alcohol and drugs, which worsened with the death of his mother, Nargis Dutt, a victim of cancer.
Nargis died a few weeks before the premiere of the movie "Rocky," which marked the debut of Sanjay Dutt on the big screen with his father, Sunil.
The death of his mother fell to the actor in a spiral of drugs and dementia, but her father reacted by sending him to Texas to be rehabilitated.
In the U.S., the actor fell victim to a lung ailment, but thanks to this nurse met Richa Sharma, whom he married months later.
With Sharma had a daughter, Trishala, but happiness was short lived. The family was devastated by the news that the mother had a brain tumor that caused his death.
Despite the personal pain at the loss of his wife and the custody of his daughter's family litigated Sharma for the care of small-, Sanjay worked hard to relaunch his career and achieved the ultimate success with the movies " Saajan "(1992) and" Khalnayak "(1993), which was a villain.
And when his career seemed back on the path to success, occurred in March 1993, the terrible attacks in Mumbai, thirteen explosions at strategic points in the city that killed 257 people and wounding 1,000.
In another sign of Bollywood connections with the mafia, Dutt was arrested and jailed in connection with those attacks. Police learned that the gangsters had visited the home of actor and had given several AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and cartridges. Sanjay kept a rifle and other weapons returned.
The actor spent 18 months in jail, where he received massive support from industry and, on leaving, he married Rhea Pillai but the marriage was a failure and ended in divorce.
Despite the ups and downs of his personal life and its connection with the Bombay mafia, Sanjay's career was not only intact, but has grown over the years with several successes, based on his image of "male" (" Mission Kashmir "," LoC ") and then as a comedian.
The burly Dutt has greatly benefited in recent years with the series "Munna Bhai", in which the actor plays a Bombay gangster who has a heart of gold.
In the first of two films ("Munnabhai MBBS"), Munna, accompanied on screen by his father Sunil (who died shortly after) does take off his medical degree based copy and try to improve the world by giving hugs.
In the second ("Lage Raho Munnabhai"), voted in the most important forums of the Internet as one of the best comedies in world history, Munna-Dut thinks he sees the ghost of Gandhi, and guided by their advice, launches a Quixote to combat corruption and problems of modern India.
Dutt, who was acquitted in 2006 of the terrorism charges but convicted of trafficking in arms, tried to cultivate this image of "enfant terrible" converted during the trials for the Mumbai attacks, going to the temples before each session.
"Considering elements of this confession and taking into account what was said by another witness, Sanjay accepted the statement according to which acquired and maintained these weapons for their own defense," said the judge at the hearing.
The good-natured gangster image with its parallels in real life-has made ​​Sanjay Dutt an icon not only the public but also their colleagues.
But the best definition of Dutt is provided by a sticker of his years in college and now has in his car, which says: "Never give up."

Gandhi returned to India in the mind of a disturbed gangster

New Delhi, December 7, 2006. - The Indian film "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", where "Mahatma" Gandhi was a gangster appears quixotic, has become the country as a phenomenon that has inspired protests with roses to an anti-corruption law.
The film has won various personalities of the country as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, or even the great-grandson of Gandhi, Tushar Gandhi, who confessed to Efe "be delighted" with the image and processing the message received by his great-grandfather the film.
"Apparently, India Gandhi had abandoned. But the way he preached is as old as the rivers and mountains, and without peace and love will not survive as a society. Dreaming about equality and work with the weakest still present, as evidenced by Gandhi or Muhammad Yunus, "says Tushar.
To define this new wave of pacifism equal, the film draws on neologism "Gandhigiri" (literally "make Gandhi"), which means Indians use to describe a form of protest that turns to love and tolerance for violence.
"Deception is a disease, and who deceives a patient. So the best way to fight against lies and corruption is wanting to those who have a speedy recovery, for example give them roses, "says the ghost of Gandhi gangster hallucinated.
And, captivated by the power of the message, thousands of people have taken to the streets of the country since the release of the film to protest with roses by the agricultural crisis of cotton, the precarious conditions of university education, or simply poor service a telephone company.
"A film says Tushar Gandhi - can not make a revolution, but it does generate interest. And now the message of Gandhi is back, though, somehow, was always here. "
In the film, a Bombay gangster soaks Gandhian philosophy to win her crush, a radio, but the obsession with the father of Indian independence ends up causing hallucinations.
Drawn by the ghost of Gandhi's advice, the mobster and his friend Circuit, two modern Quixote and Sancho, rush to the aid of the weaknesses of the city, amid the choreography typical "Bollywood" and a bizarre argument that combines the theories of "Mahatma" with humor, the picaresque and the underworld.
"If a guy throws a stone at a statue of me, tell him to tour the country and bring down all my statues, and to delete my name from the streets and books. I only store in the heart, "says the ghost gangster mouth before recommending turning the other cheek to receive mamporros.
With the slogan "Get well soon", the film has caught on different pages of the network, but also on selected corridors of high politics, after the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that the film captures "the message Bapu ("Father", referring to Gandhi) on the power of truth and humanism. "
Singh also said that the film, which has become the first Hindi film premiered at the UN headquarters, is one of the references of the new law that promotes his government to fight corruption.
The success of "Munna Bhai" ("colleague Munna") lies, according to Tushar Gandhi, which has connected the moral reference of Gandhi with a youthful language close to everyday problems of people.
In the words of the great-grandson of "Mahatma", his great-grandfather, the real Gandhi, "would not be happy with today's India, full of inequalities," but "seek a positive way."
However, the ghostly Gandhi responds and reassures his countrymen from the big screen: "Do not worry about me, I'm fine and I'm still here in force, if only the head of a madman."

Suicides in India do not understand caste

New Delhi, October 27, 2006. - Ruined farmers, soldiers, under pressure, tired of living or nursing school marked by competitiveness are some of the faces of suicide in India, a growing problem that no one knows quite how to deal with.
The 1021 farmers have committed suicide in central India since July 2005 are just a sample of a phenomenon that has also become the region of Tamil Nadu in the south, in the place of the planet with the highest rate of teen suicide.
Indian newspapers do not normally have modesty in addressing this issue, taboo in other cultures, and often report suicides among adolescents in the pages of events giving full details.
In Tamil Nadu, for example, the suicide rate among young people is 103 per 100,000 inhabitants, nine times the world average and more than 50 percent of young female deaths are due to this cause.
There and in the neighboring state of Kerala produce half of the 100,000 annual deaths induced car registered in India, which have risen 60 percent in a decade.
Kerala, according to statistics, is the most cultured and literate of all India.
Efe said the sociologist Nandu Ram, "in Tamil Nadu and other southern regions there is a cult leader who leads people to kill themselves, as happened after the death of MG Ramachandran", an actor and prime minister of the region died in 1984 and drew over 100 people to suicide.
Meanwhile, students are prone to self-esteem crisis due to family problems, domestic violence, failed love or mental illness, also affected the Indian education system that is strongly committed to competitiveness in the face of job placement.
"Many children are unable to meet the demands of their parents or school and that it generates complex and makes them think that there is no other way out," said the sociologist.
In the case of farmers, suicide has become a response to a field without a future, especially in Vidarbha, where the debts generated by falling cotton prices and drought are the main reasons cited by local analysts .
Most are illiterate peasants in India, hence more difficult to achieve many bank loans that go to illegal moneylenders, even if it means the payment of interests that can reach 60 percent and are charged sometimes with methods coercive.
The Indian government passed a series of measures to improve the farmers, but suicide rates have increased as support, according to the version of the unions fail.
According to the spokesman for the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti agricultural (VJAS) Kishor Tivari, suicides are common trace: occur between small indebted farmers who face family illness, a daughter of marriageable age and a son unemployed, plus a fall in prices or production.
Now, the organization provides VJAS "gandhigiris", a sort of strikes that follow the principles of "Gandhian" truth, tolerance, nonviolence and unity in order to achieve a "fair price" of about 45 per quintal of cotton.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army, less given to "gandhigiris" that the peasants, has announced the hiring of psychologists against the scourge of suicides among its ranks, estimated at about 500 since 2002 and mainly concentrated in the disputed region of Kashmir .
However, the controversy surrounding the suicide is the same: determine the value of life in a country that has 1,100 million people and has barely begun to develop.
And in India, something as individual as suicide has become a mass problem and knows no caste.

The children of Jawaharlal Nehru

The closest polls (or should I say "the machine") are located in the public school district. The police have to limit traffic barriers and facilitate access to voters who come groomed and well clothes, must elect their representative to the conurbation of New Delhi, an electorate the size of Holland and Chile. This should not be happening: in area ity, elections were held for weeks and the results met a few days ago, the third shutout in a row-for the Congress Party.

But in my neighborhood, Rajinder Nagar, elections were suspended until today because the candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (radical Hindu is) committed suicide during the campaign. know and what the winning party's vote does not deter many voters, who keep waiting patiently to receive an entry permit from the police.

Delhi Elections are only a prelude to the general, scheduled for spring, but its operation is strictly the same as what is to come: upon arrival, the voter must be identified and sign a statement which contains your name and picture . Is given a pink form and an official sprinkles him a nail with indelible ink. Is the way to prevent people from voting more than once.

And solved the previous procedures, the voter up to a corner, where it picks its choice a "machine" with a modest conveniently camouflaged cardboard concave to ensure the secrecy of the vote. The EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) are one of the most striking phenomena of elections in India. The voter must press a button only. And a beep confirms that the choice is made.

A few meters from the EVM, an officer has a control terminal that ensures transparency and correctness of the process. Check the machine is prohibited, but the official school taught me the template under the EVM: fig ura candidate's name next to the symbol of his party, very useful for the illiterate. At right, a blue button and a brand of light will come on when pressed.

"Quick View", you agree to the final. After the board gives me time to see an EVM of the size of a laptop. The machine is also easy to guess who can not read. This is just the click of a preferred party: the hand, the Congress Party, the lotus, the BJP, the elephant, the Bahujan Samadi castibajos the Party. So up to a dozen symbols.

With EVM, the Indian Election Commission, imagine saving time count 670 million ballots, and money: about $ 40 million, according to official estimates, no longer spent on printing, transportation, storage or security.

The first idea of having electronic machines comes from the late 70's. Although its development took about two decades, today the Electoral Commission boasts a technology that works in areas without electricity (support cells), causes no errors and is fast, maneuverable and easy to transport. The vote remains secret and in addition, the machines are reusable.

Provides solutions in order to streamline the procedures in the "world's largest democracy." This idea-democratic gigantism tends to cause more pride than concern to Indian scribes, aware of the great figures: 670 million voters, over 600,000 people, more than one million machines that meet the Indians with their biggest party . Unfortunately, however, do not EVM to improve or representation of India's population, as subject to deprivation, and the democratic quality of everyday life. They are just machines.

For decades, Indians have been fixed to the procedures of a bureaucracy virtually omnipotent, and that is why the proverbial relinquish many of its mandarins have had devastating effects not only to solve troubles in a civil or access to ration cards. Also to certify the unbridgeable distance between the centers of decision and citizens.

To put it in the words of Professor Amartya Sen, which uses the old school of "Nyaya": the legitimacy of India's democracy should not be only in the ritual of going to the polls every so often. We must also affect the ability of legislators to reach practical social progress, beyond the rules and organizations.

Sixty years after independence, the balance is still poor.

"The weakened institutions, writes the historian Ramachandra Guha - mean that India's democracy can be described as a partial success. India is largely democratic when it comes to holding elections and to allow freedom of movement and expression. But mostly it is not if we consider the operation of political institutions. "

"Could you invent a software to make our democracy work?" I asked an elderly co-chairman of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani at the launch of his book "Imagining India". The joncho dryly said "No".

There, yes, local chiefs, unionism, a cult of leadership, an absence of effective control of power. In many cases, political office or run a finger or inherited within the family, starting with the self-Gand hi Nehru dynasty. But we must not do blood system. If you look past decades and if you look at the turbulent zone countries will have to agree that the great triumph of democracy in India has been its strength.

And the debate really should not be much emphasis on its shortcomings, which are in sight, such as whether the political system is getting its share of profit of the economic reforms of the 90 or, conversely, if the Indians are still airing the old, twisted and administrative practices and uncontrolled parallel circuit in which they manage their politicians.

Not far from Rajinder Nagar preserves the mansion that was the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru during his years delhíes, and during his successive terms as prime minister. Today the building houses a museum and a planetarium attached to attending schoolchildren on excursions organized, something that would appeal to Nehru, who professed a legendary worship by children.

While in the West-and especially in the Hispanic world is the "Mahatma" Gandhi who monopolizes the symbolic brightness of the peaceful struggle for Indian freedom in the case of democracy the country has rather the plot to Jawaharlal Nehru and handful of Democrats to the British who were with him at the dawn of independence.

In hindsight, it is easy to conclude that Nehru was right in its commitment to democracy: that a country as diverse, plural and incomprehensible as India could not succeed unless democracy making the room for the pooling of interests. His was a secular democracy, principlism, incorporating elements of Fabian socialism and the British parliamentary government in a theoretical non-alignment in international affairs.

In retrospect, I say, his way seemed sensible. But at that time, preaching was not so simple: the idea was challenged by Nehru Gandhi, who preferred a semi-mythical rural councils. On the left, the Communists defended their dictatorship of the proletariat (forgot that in India there was no proletariat), and right, shouting religious radicals who sought to make Hinduism the touchstone of the state.

The museum houses several relics Nehru precious for those who want to approach: the firm that made ​​foreign ministry, his deathbed austere, high ceilings Indira's room, hundreds of iconic photographs of the struggle for independence. There are carpeted rooms with fireplace, meeting centers constants, references to Gandhi on walls and shelves.

And above all, the firm which was "working late" according to the plate. A large table with an icon of Buddha - say atheist Nehru and several inkwells, three old phones. Armchairs, sofas. Portraits of his daughter Indira Gandhi, the "Mahatma" by Abraham Lincoln. On one shelf rests a globe. There are hundreds of books on shelves and other outside: the very European Sartre, Gunnar Myrdal. Only one is on the table, all of a manual of good "gentleman": the Oxford Dictionary of English, concise version.

The British Nehru finally get their way. Although his successors rewrote his script with varying degrees of success, the Indian spacecraft continues in its work. Of the four legacies nehrudianos, democracy, secularism, socialism and neutrality, the first is the strength that keeps most symbolically and actually, for obvious resulting deficiencies. As the population continues to grow, every time that India holds general elections, the process becomes the largest democratic exercise ever conducted on earth.

And now, to take part, just press a button. Or wait for the accident: while the people still vote in Rajinder Nagar, someone knocks on the door. "Have you voted and all the people of this house?" Says a middle-aged woman. "If you did not vote, join me, I'll go with you, if desired. And we can talk on the way, "he adds.

I must say that everyone has (have) voted. "There will be voted for the elephant, I hope," goodbye. And for this "invitation to vote" no EVM machine to save us. Curious democracy.