Click to play videoKolkata: Exactly a hundred years and three months ago, Mahatma Gandhi conceived of a weapon which arguably proved to be the most effective one in shaking the British Raj from its roots. Still a source of inspiration to Indians as a potent form of protest, satyagraha has now resurfaced in West Bengal.
The context is entirely different, though. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is trying to follow the Mahatma's footsteps of satyagraha in her protest against the Tata car plant in Singur.
Mamata's fast is continuing for a longer period than any of Gandhi's starvation spells. In fact, with 23 days of fast, Banerjee has already overtaken Gandhi as far as resisting hunger is concerned.
But the common men on the streets of Kolkata have differing opinions as far as Mamata's test of endurance is concerned.
"At that time, the definition of satyagraha was different. In today's culture that satyagraha won't work," says a senior Bengali citizen.
"My sympathies are with her. But at the same time, I am in favour of industrialisation," adds a Bengali youth.
It's not merely the common man who is worried about the leader's health. Trinamool leaders, too, have kept their fingers crossed on the outcome of this unusually long hunger strike. And medical practitioners are apprehending a long-term damage in Banerjee's vital organs.
"As a result of the fast that she is undertaking, as far as medical science goes, her kidneys, her heart everything will take a toll," Dr Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, a physician and Trinamul Congress leader, says.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said it is already too late to ask the Tatas to shift from Singur. Hence with an end to the Singur impasse nowhere in sight, it seems that Banerjee's version of Gandhigiri would rule the roost for some more time.
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