Category: January 2022
Motika Anand, Jan 16, 2022
Jan 16: Day 1 of my fast, day 692 of our chain.
The word ‘hunger’ always takes me back to my childhood. I was maybe 12 years old when I was visiting Mumbai (then Bombay) with my family. After dinner we would go for stroll on a beach (maybe Marina Beach). One day I saw a girl about my age selling balloons. It was a bit late and after a while I saw her tying a cloth tightly on her stomach and her little brother’s stomach, and drink some water from a tap. After a while I saw her lying on the sand on beach on a rag with her brother. I asked my mother why had she tied a cloth on her stomach and my mom told me that’s because she didn’t eat food and must be hungry. Tying a cloth around stomach helps control hunger and drinking water must have filled her enough to be able to go to sleep.
It’s been over 3 decades and I still remember that girl.
I would see that girl everyday, follow the same ritual before going to sleep.
Hunger index of India has dipped a lot in past 7 years. Wealth of some billionaires in India has increased multi fold in past 7 years.
A country desensitized of its hungry children can never be Vishwaguru.
What good will this chain fasting for peace do? My sons ask me this question. I never have a satisfactory answer.
All I know is that, in all my helplessness, this is minimum I can do.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
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Kiran Tandon, Jan 15, 2022
Jan 15: Day 1 of my fast, day 691 of our chain.
One God, all pervasive, timeless, unborn and self-existent, and that can be realised by his grace alone; he is in the beginning, he is in all ages.
Grace, love, kindness and peace.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
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Protected: Manpreet Kaur, Jan 14, 2022
Shyamala Sanyal, Jan 13, 2022
Jan 13: Day 1 of my fast, day 689 of our chain.
I’m fasting against authoritarian elected representatives .
We must inculcate the idea of justice and democratic values in young people .
Teach citizenship from a young age
Our culture prizes obedience
Value the rebel , the dissenter .
I’m also fasting to reduce inequality in our country. The rich live lives of ease and comfort . And unfeeling thoughtlessness .
The poor are stoic and resigned to their fate
Minimum Support Prices for agricultural produce , living wages for our domestic help , shop girls , receptionists etc . I see so many poorly paid and overworked people all around .
It’s unfair , unjust and criminal.
I run a small industry . I try to do the fair thing by our employees .
But I see so many employers not even paying minimum wages , leave alone other benefits
We must improve the lot of people around us.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Christian Frankenberg, Jan 10 – Jan 12, 2022
Jan 10: Day 1 of my fast, day 686 of our chain.
Fasting against hate speech. It can slowly creep into societies, disenfranchising and dehumanizing targeted minorities.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 11: Day 2 of my fast, day 687 of our chain.
Today in the morning was harder than expected, bad sleep combined with hunger. My brain was foggy and I couldn’t think straight. Fasting is a good reminder that you have to walk in someone’s shoes to truly understand situations and hardships you would otherwise not empathize with. And every fast is different, just like situations in life.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 12: Day 3 of my fast, day 688 of our chain.
This is the last day of my fast and happens to be the 12th death anniversary of my dearest friend Kai Buchholz, who worked for the UN in Haiti when the earthquake struck and collapsed the HQ building. He is the person I most looked up to, with genuine solid principles, wit and charisma. He would have made it far. I wonder what he would do now if he was still alive. I am sure he would be upset (and fighting against) the autocratic tendencies that are spreading across the world. Rest In Peace my friend, we will fight for you and keep your spirit alive.
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
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Protected: Kowsar Jahan Shaik, Jan 5 – Jan 9, 2022
Suniti Sanghavi, Dec 31, 2021 – Jan 4, 2022
Dec 31: Day 1 of my fast, day 676 of our chain.
The comments made by Yati Narasimhanand and others at the inglorious “Dharma Sansad” in Haridwar reminded me of conversations with Sanghi relatives in India, one of whom was indeed rabid enough to openly bay for blood…
These conversations are always marked by ridiculous and unapologetic prejudices, unhinged accusations that never stand up to scrutiny, and – when all else fails – lamenting how victimized the poor Hindus are.
The conversations are tediously logic-defying to say the least and deeply offensive to those who keep being willfully reduced to maliciously crafted caricatures of their true selves. And now there’s the added menace of open threats of violence.
I don’t know how to offer solace or comfort to Muslim citizens of India today. I feel so raw and spent myself, I can hardly imagine how it must be to be the direct target of so much openly expressed bile.
I could ask for forgiveness. And promise to spend every free moment I find resisting this incessant injection of hate. But I know I am small and insignificant – a little David fighting a terrible Goliath. This New Year’s Eve, roughly at the halftime point of Modi’s second term, let us resolve to come together, dear fellow Davids, to make our presence felt, our voices heard, and to finally defeat the soul-sucking Goliath that is Hindutva! Aazaadi 2024!!
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 1, 2022: Day 2 of my fast, day 677 of our chain.
Today I’d like to draw attention to Uttar Pradesh, ranked by the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) as the best State in the country in June 2021.
This ranking was based on the percentage of smart city projects completed in the state. Okay! I guess the point of smart cities is to attract people who will want to work and live in those cities. So how can it be that UP retains one of the highest unemployment levels in the country?
Yogi Adityanath had promised 70 lakh jobs for the youth of UP in the 2017-2022 timeframe. How is it, then, that unemployment has nearly doubled among the youth from 8.8% to 15.9%? With overall joblessness increasing from 23.1% to 31.5%?
All this while legitimate jobs lie vacant, with 69000 vacancies in just teaching jobs. Why? Because the Yogi government wants to deny constitutionally guaranteed reservations to nearly 15000-20000 students from the OBC and SC communities, whose seats were transferred to general category candidates.
Not surprising, when the CM and the PM belong to an ideology that worships the abominable Manusmriti and wants to dismantle the constitution of India in favor of it.
Please reach out to AISA leaders Adarsh Shahi, Ayush Shrivastava, and Ayush Jatav if you are able to offer support or are looking for more information.
I will continue on this subject tomorrow.
(Sources: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/uttar-pradesh-ranked-best-state-under-smart-cities-mission/article34977287.ece
http://www.firstpost.com/india/yogi-adityanath-govt-to-provide-70-lakh-jobs-in-five-years-with-youth-skill-development-education-3818075.html
https://dailyindia.net/teacher-recruitment-the-decision-of-the-yogi-government-was-rejected-by-the-youth-agitating-for-teacher-recruitment/65232/
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/uttar-pradesh-jobs-india-unemployment-explainspeaking-7658103/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/employment-rate-falls-to-37-3-in-october/articleshow/87512470.cms)
Aazaadi 2024!!
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 2: Day 3 of my fast, day 678 of our chain.
Continuing the conversation I began yesterday on Uttar Pradesh, its unemployment and its caste biases, I come back to the issue of denying OBC/SC candidates their constitutional rights to employment. In the recent scam involving job assignments for primary teachers’, the Yogi government allowed only ~6000 out of ~18000 reserved seats to be allotted to their rightful beneficiaries, allowing general category candidates to avail of the rest.
This is understandably traumatic for impoverished, first-generation students who overcome unfathomable (for most caste privileged people) odds to attain the qualifications required for these jobs. To them, it is not merely a matter of employment, but a critical step towards ensuring a dignified life for themselves and for their progeny. Denying them these jobs amounts to intentionally keeping them “in their place” as prescribed by the abominable Manusmriti.
The attack is multi-pronged – another front faced by the children of OBC/SC communities is examination paper leakages. Adarsh Shahi informs me that around 16 out of 24-25 exam papers were leaked within 4.5 years of the Yogi government. The casual amusement I used to feel at such news transformed into horror and shame as I finally recognized the caste calculus that hides behind such leaks: they not only make merit and hard work immaterial to success, but they ensure that those who can afford to pay for the papers have unrestricted access to lucrative careers, while those who cannot – disproportionately more likely to be the caste oppressed – are kept our regardless of their abilities.
We are failing our youth in the sickest way possible… destroying impoverished lives, ripping apart our social fabric, and miring everyone in vicious cycles that only bring despair and desperation.
Please reach out to AISA leaders Adarsh Shahi, Ayush Shrivastava, and Ayush Jatav if you are able to offer support or are looking for more information.
Aazaadi 2024!!
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 3: Day 4 of my fast, day 679 of our chain.
How can India grow if there is no space for young idealists to make their mistakes, learn from them and grow?
How can a respectable political party thrive and win trust if its followers have become zealots who insist on quashing all competition?
Can mood-driven, cannibalistic witch-hunts really symbolize a mature, evolved democracy?
Aazaadi 2024!!
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Jan 4: Day 5 of my fast, day 680 of our chain.
Today, as on all 5 days of my fast, I have felt the slow burn of the Dharm Sansad in Haridwar, Sulli deals, Bulli bai (replete with the fake use of Sikh user names by Hindutva zealots to incite Sikh-Muslim animosity), and how closely they align with unguarded conversations in middle class Hindu families these days.
I couldn’t say it better than Deepa Khadar, who writes:
“ 21-year-old Vishal Jha.
18-year-old Shweta Singh.
Products of an ecosystem that worships the likes of Modi, Shah & Yogi. What else did you think those Muslim-hating uncles & aunts in your family WhatsApp groups would create?”
Aazaadi 2024!!
ChainFastingForPeace
FastingAgainstFascism
FreeSanjivBhatt
ResignAmitShah
ResignModi
Chain Fasting For Peace 