Protesters blow out candles, take to roses
Munna Bhai’s roses have replaced candlelight marches as the latest form of protest. But will they work?
The candles have been blown out. The new symbols of protest are roses, get well soon cards and stripping! The Rang De Basanti fervour of demonstrations has taken a back seat and Lage Raho Munna Bhai’s Gandhigiri is the new mantra of protest. DT explores the before, after and beyond of this new ishtyle of peaceful protests.
Not just media attention
The real-life followers of Gandhigiri aren’t just doing it to grab headlines. The former mayor of Pune, Shantilal Suratwala, along with former Union minister Mohan Dharia, has formed a club in Pune called Gandhigiri. The club has some 550 members. “Of course, we made this club after seeing Lage Raho Munna Bhai. But Gandhi and his thoughts are nothing new to India,” says Suratwala. He feels that following Gandhigiri is not just a media stunt. “More than media attention, we want the common man’s attention.”
However, when Milan Varma, a telecom sales manager, was arrested in Lucknow for protesting against a liquor shop, it was the media’s reaction that bailed him out. “I am grateful for the media’s help, but I didn’t do it for their attention. I did it to get the liquor shop closed,” says Varma. The liquor shop was situated right opposite a temple in Varma’s society. “It became difficult for the women to even step out of home,” explains Varma. “I requested people to give a flower to every person who went into the liquor shop.”
Not a rosy picture yet
Gandhigiri doesn’t produce instant results though. Chedi Lal retired from the food and supply department of Lucknow in 2000. It has been six years, but he’s still waiting for his pension. “Commissioner Anoop Pandey called me to sign the file. I was asked to give Rs 15,000 to ‘move things faster’. The next day, I filed a formal complaint against him. Nothing happened. So I went to his office and did what the retired man in Munna Bhai had done. I stripped! They wanted to throw me out, but thankfully, there was a TV channel that captured all of this live.”
Is it just a movie?
But while the candlelight protests, post-Rang De Basanti, saw the Jessica Lall case reopening in the court, are Gandhian methods relevant today? Lal feels that the audience might want to follow Gandhigiri, but government officials remain unaffected. “Unko toh asaar nahi ho raha. I am still pension-less,” he rues. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film’s producer, describes it as an attempt. “Bapu has always been around, it is just that we had been taking him for granted. This is our way of saying that his principles live on. It is just an attempt.”
URL- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2172581.cms