From Potti Sriramulu to Sonam Wangchuk: Hunger strikes that changed India’s politics
A recent report traced the history of fasts undertaken by individuals across independent India to press specific political or policy demands, situating a recent, ongoing fast within this long tradition.
The episodes span demands as varied as the creation of a linguistically defined state, opposition to a security law, an anti-corruption legislative demand, environmental protection of a river, and statehood or constitutional-safeguard demands for a Union Territory.
Several of these fasts directly produced or accelerated specific institutional outcomes: a new state's creation, a national commission's constitution, or a new central law.
The report illustrates how the hunger strike, rooted in the pre-independence Gandhian method of satyagraha, has continued as a recognised, if contested, form of civil protest in independent India's constitutional democracy.
Satyagraha and the Hunger Strike as a Method of Civil Resistance
Satyagraha, a term coined by Mohandas Gandhi combining "satya" (truth) and "agraha" (insistence/firmness), denotes a method of non-violent civil resistance relying on moral and self-suffering pressure rather than force to compel a change in an opponent's position. The hunger strike, or fast, is one of satyagraha's most direct applications, transferring the burden of potential harm onto the protester rather than the target of protest.
Key Details
- Gandhi undertook numerous fasts during the freedom movement, including fasts connected to the 1932 Poona Pact concerning separate electorates for depoliticised classes, treating the fast as a tool of moral suasion rather than coercion.
- Post-independence, the method has been repeatedly invoked to press demands ranging from linguistic statehood to anti-corruption legislation to environmental protection, showing continuity between the freedom movement's protest repertoire and post-independence democratic practice.
- The right to peaceful protest, including fasting, draws on Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and Article 19(1)(b) (right to assemble peaceably), both subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) and 19(3) in the interest of public order, sovereignty, and integrity of India.
The report frames each historical fast as an instance of this same underlying method, allowing UPSC-style questions to test the constitutional and Gandhian lineage of protest by fasting rather than the political specifics of any single, contemporary episode.
Potti Sriramulu's Fast and the Linguistic Reorganisation of States
Potti Sriramulu, a freedom fighter and Gandhian, undertook a fast unto death in 1952 demanding the creation of a separate Andhra state for Telugu-speaking people carved out of the Madras Presidency. His death on 15 December 1952, after 58 days of fasting, triggered widespread public agitation and directly led the Union government to announce the creation of Andhra State, which came into being on 1 October 1953.
Key Details
- The agitation and its aftermath prompted the Union government to constitute the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in 1953, headed by Fazl Ali, with H.N. Kunzru and K.M. Panikkar as members, to examine the reorganisation of state boundaries.
- Based on the SRC's recommendations, Parliament enacted the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, which reorganised state boundaries primarily along linguistic lines, giving rise to states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and a reorganised Bombay State (later split into Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960).
- This episode is a standard reference point for the constitutional principle, under Article 3, that Parliament may by law form new states, alter boundaries, or change names of existing states.
Potti Sriramulu's fast is presented as the earliest and most consequential of the listed episodes, establishing the template by which an individual fast escalated into a nationwide policy process resulting in a specific central Act.
Fasts as Pressure Tactics on Specific Policy and Legislative Outcomes
Beyond the Andhra episode, several later fasts in Indian political history are studied for the specific institutional or legislative outcomes they preceded, illustrating the fast's continued role as an extra-parliamentary pressure tool on the state.
Key Details
- A 2011 fast at Jantar Mantar demanding a strong anti-corruption ombudsman built pressure that contributed to Parliament eventually enacting the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, establishing a statutory anti-corruption ombudsman for public servants at the central level.
- A prolonged fast begun in 2000 against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the northeastern region, continued for roughly sixteen years and remained one of independent India's longest individual fasts, kept alive artificially under medical supervision due to the legal prohibition on fasting to the point of death being treated as attempted self-harm.
- A fast-unto-death agitation in late 2009 demanding separate statehood for a Telangana region within the then-Andhra Pradesh state led the Union government to announce initiation of the process for creating a separate state, a process that culminated years later in the state's formation via a separate Act of Parliament.
- A fast undertaken in 2018 by a retired academic-turned-ascetic, demanding stronger legal protections for a major river's ecological flow, ended with the protester's death after over a hundred days of fasting, highlighting the limits and risks of the method when a government does not concede the specific demand.
These episodes collectively illustrate that while a fast can be a catalyst for legislative or executive action, outcomes vary widely, from securing a swift institutional response to prolonged standoffs, underscoring that the method's success depends on the political and administrative response it provokes rather than the fast itself.
- Potti Sriramulu's fast: began 19 October 1952; died 15 December 1952 after 58 days; Andhra State formed 1 October 1953.
- States Reorganisation Commission constituted: 1953, chaired by Fazl Ali.
- States Reorganisation Act enacted: 1956.
- Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act enacted: 2013, following a 2011 fast-driven anti-corruption movement.
- Longest-running individual fast referenced: nearly sixteen years, from 2000 to 2016, against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.
- Telangana statehood fast: November-December 2009; the Union government announced the process for separate statehood in December 2009; the state was formed in 2014.
- River-conservation fast: 2018; the protester died after over 100 days of fasting.
- Relevant constitutional provisions: Article 19(1)(a) and (b) (speech, assembly), Article 19(2)-(3) (reasonable restrictions), Article 3 (Parliament's power to form/alter states).