Skip to main content

Fasting to conserve Ganga, Atmabodhanand follows India's "glorious" tradition of sacrifices

By Sandeep Pandey*
The freedom struggle of this country has witnessed a band of youth inspired by a zeal willing to put their lives at stake. Number of them were arrested, tried in court and executed by the British. Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, Jatindra Nath Das are common household names in India of revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives.
Most of them were hanged. Chandrashekhar Azad shot himself dead to escape arrest and Jatindra Nath Das died after a 63 days hunger strike inside Lahore prison, where Bhagat Singh also fasted with him, for better living conditions for political prisoners.
Potti Sreeramulu, a freedom fighter, died in independent India after fasting for 58 days in Chennai for a separate Andhra state for Telugu speaking people in 1952. Even though this demand had popular support, the reason why Jawaharlal Nehru government eventually agreed to it, Potti Sreeramulu's effort was an individual decision.
A 13-years-old girl Aradhana Samdhariya belonging to Jain community died on October 3, 2016 after fasting for 68 days for purely religious reason with the consent of her parents as an alternative to becoming a monk. This fast was not meant to achieve any social purpose and hence was an individual effort for individual cause.
Irom Sharmila fasted for 16 long years in Manipur, while being force fed, demanding repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, demonstrating a steely resolve. Her decision to go on fast and to withdraw was again individual. Fortunately, she survived the long ordeal.
Over three lakh farmers have committed suicide in India since the economic policies of privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation were implemented because of their inability to repay loans. Even though the number of farmers who gave up their lives was larger than any other group who made sacrifices, the cause was individual and incidents were sporadic, not premeditated.
Naxalites and terrorists also exhibited a strong sense of purpose and commitment to give up their lives for it but they resorted to violent means and were considered outlaws by the society.
After the collective effort during freedom struggle when the abovementioned revolutionaries staked their lives for a greater cause we witness a similar phenomenon among saints for the conservation of river Ganga. Most of these are associated with Matri Sadan Ashram in Haridwar.
Sixty fasts unto death have been organised by this Ashram so far in which two saints Swami Nigmanand and Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, who was earlier known as Professor GD Agrawal at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, died after fasting for 115 and 112 days, respectively, in 2011 and 2018.
Brahmachari Atmabodhanand is currently sitting on fast for over 190 days and is going to give up water on May 5, 2019. Baba Nagnath had died in 2014 in Varanasi after 114 days of fast for the same demand.
Swami Gokulanand, who sat on the first fast against illegal mining in Ganga in 1998 along with Swami Nigmanand on behalf of Matri Sadan was murdered in 2003. The head of Matri Sadan Swami Shivanand who has himself fasted against illegal mining in the past has taken a decision that one saint after another will sit on fast until the demand of Professor GD Agrawal to let Ganga flow uninterrupted and clean is met by the government.
While the Manmohan Singh government had agreed to some demands of Professor GD Agrawal when he fasted five times, the present government has chosen to ignore the sacrifices of saints.
It is a pity that most of the people who put their lives at stake were not able to generate enough mass support for themselves. That is the reason they died while fasting. They received very limited support from society even though the cause that they espoused for were public and would benefit the society at large.
Except for Mahatma Gandhi and Anna Hazare, whose fasts attracted public attention and people were moved by them, most of the people who fasted unto death received a very feeble response from society. In fact, the society was cruelly insensitive towards them.
However, these fasts have proved that when there is darkness everywhere, people and organisations are willing to make compromises for petty gains or soaked in corruption and most of the society is either submissive or afraid of authorities, there are people who come out, take a stand and face the repressive regimes.
They become the hope for society and continue to inspire generations. They are icons of struggle against injustice and uphold values of truth, integrity, simplicity and adherence to universal principles for the benefit of entire human race.
The abovementioned people who gave up their lives were the most intelligent, committed and finest human beings of our society. Their untimely demise was society's loss.
But what is most unfortunate is that whereas nobody expected any mercy from the governments of the day, even the larger society didn't do enough to save their lives. We are all guilty in this. This is irrespective of the fact that the great souls who made sacrifices never bothered about their own lives.
The society will always remember them for their ideals. These martyrs will continue to inspire new idealists. They will probably be never enough in number to change the society for better but will remind the lesser mortals like us that there are higher ideals to live for.
We must not keep ourselves tied up in smaller things as to lose the sight of a bigger objective of a humane society, much less bother ourselves with unscrupulous things. If we cannot do any good for the society, we must not at least cause harm to it. This is the least we can learn from the great souls who gave up their lives.
---
*Magsaysay Award winning social activist. Contact: ashaashram@yahoo.com

Comments

TRENDING

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

SC 'appears to foster' culture of secrecy, does not seek electoral bond details from SBI

By Rosamma Thomas*  In its order of November 2, 2023 on the case of Association for Democratic Reforms vs Union of India contesting constitutional validity of electoral bonds, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to give particulars of the bonds received by them in sealed covers to the Election Commission of India. SC sought that information be updated until September 2023. 

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Only 12% of schools RTE compliant: Whither 6% budgetary allocation for education?

By Ambarish Rai* Despite Indian state’s commitment of 6% GDP on education, the Finance Minister completely ignored right to education for children and strengthening implementation of RTE Act which makes education a fundamental right in her budget speech . The Right to Education (RTE) Forum, which is a collective of different stakeholders in education, condemns this neglect of a legal entitlement, which is unconstitutional and demand for overall increase in the budget to ensure improvement in learning outcomes and overall enhancement of quality education.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'Ambiguous policy': India late in advocating EVs as energy storage in national grid

By Shankar Sharma*  This is regarding the points raised by the Chief Electricity Authority’s (CEA's) advocacy for usage of electrical vehicles (EVs) as energy storage technology, and few associated issues . An objective reading of what he states should reiterate the enormously growing importance of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in our need to transition to a net-zero carbon scenario for the country.

Union Health Ministry, FSSAI 'fail to respond' to NHRC directive on packaged food

By Our Representative  The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern over the adverse health effects caused by packaged foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Recognizing it as a violation of the Right to Life and Right to Health of Indian citizens, the quasi-judicial body called for a response from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding its selection of front-of-pack labels aimed at providing consumers with information to make healthier choices.

How national chauvinism 'overtook' sport despite cricketing glory of World Cup 2023

By Harsh Thakor*  The recently-concluded cricket World Cup was a testimony or manifestation of the thrills, intensity, twists and turns in sport and evolution of the game of cricket. It carried on the trend of the World Cups of yesteryears. Possibly, this was the best ever Indian team in a World Cup, and arguably amongst the best ever to contest a World Cup.