Jan 25: Day 1 of my fast, day 336 of our chain.
I had to step in today, because a new volunteer who had signed up for this slot sounded exhausted when I spoke to them earlier, in the middle of a work trip. They had fallen asleep before being able to post, and were glad to have me take over this time, even though they are eager to join us again as soon as they have been able to decompress a bit.
Thanks to our different time zones, I hadn’t eaten anything today, and was able to take over smoothly without a loss of continuity for our fasting chain. This really drives home how stretched all of us are sometimes as we balance our different roles and priorities. And yet, depriving oneself of food for 5 days straight to express one’s dissent makes sense for perfectly normal people. Just how tone-deaf must the leadership of India be for such extreme measures to feel justified to so many of us?
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Jan 26: Day 2 of my fast, day 337 of our chain.
Today, the 71st anniversary of the Constitution of independent India, revealed how prepared the BJP Government is to gaslight, sabotage and vilify its own people when they cannot fall in line with its demands. I woke up to news of the Government insinuating an anti-secular Khalistan nexus on the protesting farmers because they had hoisted a Nishan Sahib flag on the Red Fort.
Two things:
1. Our armed forces ceremoniously hoist the Nishan Sahib in all their cantonments. If our Government ever paid attention to our jawans, it would have known that this wasn’t a Khalistani flag. So why did the Government and the media allow for such mischief?
2. The protesting farmers were blamed for being un-secular, and for violating the sanctity of the Red Fort and the Indian tricolor. Really? Can anyone level that charge against any group in India today before first pointing a finger at the BJP?
The next outrage was a BJP-supporting actor called Deep Sindhu wearing a fake turban and infiltrating groups of Sikh farmers to make uncharacteristically inflammatory speeches.
Again:
1. Is the Government planting moles within its own people to provoke and incriminate them?
2. Is this how they created Godhra? What is real with this Government, and what is yet another of its evil genocidal tricks?
Finally (to my limited knowledge), there was the incident of a Delhi public transport bus blocking the route the protesting farmers had obtained official permission for. The farmers were accused of vandalism, when video footage showed them skillfully using their tractors to gingerly move the empty bus out of the way.
Again, a trap was laid for them in full Machiavellian glory:
1. Rumors were spread amongst the farmers to start earlier at 9 am instead of their officially assigned time to march at noon. Such last minute planning lapses are commonplace in India, and no one can be blamed for mistaking the rumors to be true.
2. As they proceeded, there was the offending bus parked for no apparent reason in the middle of the way. If this wasn’t a trap to create an appearance of violence and vandalism on the part of innocent farmers, what was it?
It just gets dirtier and dirtier every passing day with these criminals masquerading as our elected officials, and this Republic Day was a landmark for their evil political games. A populist Government knows that it can lure a favored group into blind compliance by promising them big rewards for free. Rewards for simply putting away their critical thinking capabilities. With a powerful majority out of their way, what’s to stop the powers-that-be from turning the rest of the country into an animal farm, whose inhabitants can be treated as little more than items for eventual consumption…
Wake up, India! Any hope for the survival of our nation depends on those of us who are still sentient enough to recognize this government as an evil pack of criminals. We need to ward off this Government’s constant attempts to divide us when it isn’t busy breaking us. Let us summon all the mutual tolerance and interpersonal largesse that we can find in ourselves to make sure that we recognize our true enemy and *unite* against it! Once the monster has been vanquished, there will be much more time and energy left for nuanced debate and much-needed reform! But for now, let us put our differences aside and simply unite against the train-wreck this government is leading us to!
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Jan 27: Day 3 of my fast, day 338 of our chain:
As I put up with the discomfort of food deprivation today, it strikes me that Navreet Singh, the 25-year old newlywed farmer who was crushed to death yesterday as he lost control of his tractor after being shot in the eye with a tear gas canister, isn’t eating anything either. And never will. His family and friends will be deprived forever of his precious presence in their midst.
For what? For the vanity and selfishness of one man whose idea of law and order is forcing complete obedience to his every word, whose policies alternate between infantile cluelessness and an infinite capacity to inflict grievous harm on others? A man whose political messaging is as hollow as his vision for the nation, shaped only by greed, lies and ridiculous games of dress-up?
We don’t deserve this! Out with this cold-blooded, authoritarian, parasitic government!!
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Jan 28: Day 4 of my fast, day 339 of our chain:
The standoff between the Modi Government and farmers from all over India seems to have reached epic proportions now. The farmers, under the leadership of Rakesh Tikait have declared this as a struggle unto death.
Is the Government going to blame this discontent on the Muslims? Is it going to blame it on the Congress? Will the farmers – 60% of our population – buy the Government’s constant lies like the bhakts do?
Doesn’t look like it! The sleeping giant of India has arisen! The Emperor is looking more and more naked every passing day.
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Jan 29: Day 5 of my fast, day 340 of our chain:
With the exception of having brought the rotting scum of our society in clear view of everyone (including myself) to whom it was a mystery, the Modi Government has failed. Not only is Modi an indelible blemish on India, but the RSS, like a swarm of locusts, has left behind destruction – social, moral, economic – of a magnitude that will take us generations to recover from. Modi must go! And the RSS must be banned with its members put under close surveillance!!
Legally, though, our hands appear to be tied. I welcome differing insights and opinions, but reaching out to more and more people and educating them about the importance of the Lok Sabha leaders they put in office seems to be the only constitutionally viable alternative:
1. As of July 2019, 27 no-confidence motions have been moved. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced the most no confidence motions, fifteen, followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri and P. V. Narasimha Rao (three each), Morarji Desai (two) and Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi (one each). Atal Bihari Vajpayee lost the no confidence motion by a margin of 1 vote (269-270) in April 1999. Prime Minister Desai resigned on 12 July 1979. The most recent no confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government was accepted by the Lok Sabha speaker, but was defeated by 325–115. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_of_no_confidence)
2. With the Anti-defection law (India), the vote of no confidence has no relevance when the majority party has an absolute majority in the House. If the party with an absolute majority in the House issues a whip to party members to vote in favor of the Government, then it is impossible to remove the Government by a no confidence motion. Hence the no confidence exercise of the House (Lok Sabha) merely becomes a no confidence exercise of the Party. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_of_no_confidence)
3. At present, the BJP and its allies have a firm majority in the Lok Sabha, with a total of 335 seats against an opposition count of 204 and 4 vacancies. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lok_Sabha)
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Chain Fasting For Peace 