Starving for protest in India

NEW DELHI — The protest fast, used to historic effect by Mahatma Gandhi in his fight against British rule, has made a comeback in India among activists seeking to pressure the government on a host of issues.A series of high-profile fasts -- mostly focusing on corruption -- have garnered national attention in recent months and posed a public relations challenge to the scandal-tainted coalition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.But where Gandhi's fasts are still seen as models of principled, non-violent self-sacrifice, the modern-day versions have been criticised by some as publicity-seeking stunts that are also undemocratic.In April, 73-year-old veteran activist Anna Hazare -- an ardent admirer of Gandhi -- launched what he said would be a fast to the death to demand greater civil participation in the drafting of anti-corruption legislation.Mounting popular anger over graft, Hazare's frail resemblance to Gandhi and blanket media coverage supported by Twitter and Facebook campaigns lent the protest an unexpected momentum that took the authorities by surprise.In the end, the government agreed to certain concessions and Hazare called off his fast after 98 hours.Then in early June, India's most celebrated yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, embarked on a similar hunger strike to highlight the issue of "black money" -- illicit cash squirrelled away by officials in foreign bank accounts.This time the government took a harder stance, sending in police with tear gas to clear Ramdev and his supporters from their camp in New Delhi -- an operation that was seen by many as desperate and heavy-handed.Ramdev finally called off his strike last Sunday.A day later, another Indian guru and social activist, Swami Nigamananda, died in the northern hilltown of Dehradun after a four-month fast to highlight corruption and rising pollution in the Ganges river.Observers said the various fasts had caught a national mood, with public outrage over official corruption running at an historic high."Their rise is best explained by the falling credibi

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