One man's hunger strike changed India's map. Can it still change politics?

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: One man's hunger strike changed India's map. Can it still change politics? Image source, Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesImage caption, Environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk has survived for 19 days on just salt water at a hunger strike in Delhi BySoutik Biswas India correspondentPublished1 hour agoIt took 58 days without food to change India's map.

When Potti Sriramulu began fasting in October 1952, he was asking for something then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had repeatedly resisted: a separate state for Telugu speakers. Sriramulu, a quiet Gandhian who had already undertaken several fasts for social causes, believed only self-sacrifice could force Delhi to listen. On the 58th day, Sriramulu died.

The Details

Crowds poured onto the streets across the Telugu-speaking regions. Government buildings were attacked, railway lines blocked and several reportedly died in the unrest that followed. Days later, Nehru announced the creation of Andhra state.

Within a few years came the States Reorganisation Commission and the linguistic remaking of India. Few individual protests have left such an imprint on the republic. "Potti Sriramulu is a forgotten man today.

This is a pity, for he had a more than minor impact on the history, as well as geography of his country," historian Ramachandra Guha has written. One man's empty stomach had helped redraw the world's largest democracy. That may also explain why, more than seven decades later, Indians continue to reach instinctively for the hunger strike.

What Experts Say

The latest reminder is educationist and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, whose indefinite fast has prompted growing concern over his rapidly deteriorating health. The 59-year-old has survived for 19 days on salt water alone, losing more than 9kg while protesting in support of an online satirical movement, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is demanding education reforms. As calls mount for him to end his fast, the Delhi High Court has ordered the government to monitor Wangchuck's health and provide treatment if needed.

Image source, Keystone/Getty ImagesImage caption, Mahatma Gandhi fasts in protest against British rule after his release from prison in India in 1948No country has woven fasting into its political life quite like India. Elsewhere, protesters block roads or hold marches. Indians do those things too.

But they also stop eating. The practice predates the republic by centuries. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism all attach moral significance to voluntary self-denial.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.