On April 2, 2020, Thursday,
From 6:00 am till 6:00 pm.
Dear Fellow Citizens of India:
Greetings.
As we all know, the humankind is facing an unprecedented disaster of a unique kind and we, the people of India and the central and state governments, are struggling together to cope with it as effectively as possible.
We have to appreciate and cooperate with the central and state governments’ desperate measures such as the national lockdown. However, we are obliged to point out the complete lack of any planning, consultation, forethought and democratic precepts and participation of people in its actual implementation.
Consequently, millions and millions of unorganised workers, migrant labourers, homeless people and other deprived sections of India are left high and dry and they are forced to fend for themselves without jobs, income, food, water, shelter, transportation, sanitation and even medical care in the midst of a fast-spreading international pandemic.
There has been a massive exodus of poor people from Delhi and other urban areas who are let down by their employers and the governments at various levels. They have been forced to walk hundreds of kilometers towards their native places without food and water and they are also harassed by police and the locals at some places. What a shameful national failure it is!
Those of us who are better privileged with comfortable homes and all the basic necessities of life cannot and should not afford to be mute spectators of this huge national tragedy and the suffering of fellow citizens with high casualties.
In order to express our solidarity with the suffering people and to express our spirit of cooperation with the central and state governments (even as we are rendered kind of passive non-participatory ‘apolitical objects’ in the largest democracy because of the lockdown), we, the Gandhian Collective, and other democratic and progressive groups all over India, have decided to observe a National Day of Fasting and Prayer/Meditation on April 2, 2020, Thursday, from 6:00 am till 6:00 pm.
Without defying the lockdown and other government-laid safety stipulations, we propose to fast in our own respective homes with the participation of some or all of our family members who are healthy and willing as a mark of our solidarity with our people in this hour of national tragedy.
Even as we fast and pray/meditate, we will contemplate on the possible collective national and local strategies to face the Corona menace, the ways and means of protecting the weaker sections of our society from further hardships and suffering, and the concrete steps to take to strengthen the democratic and secular fabric of our country.
Those who take part in this ‘National Day of Fasting and Prayer/Meditation’ would appeal to the central and state governments to offer a special package to the unorganised workers, migrant labourers and other poor sections of our country with adequate food, shelter, medical facilities and compensatory wages for at least four months.
We would also express our appreciation and gratitude for the hard work of our doctors, nurses and other health workers, sanitary workers, government officials, and the police personnel.
We would appeal to all our fellow citizens and also H.E. The President of India and the Hon’ble Prime Minister to join us in this National Day of Fasting and Prayer /Meditation.
Admiral Ramdas
Yashwant Sinha, Former Union Minister
Dr. Sankar Kumar Sanyal, President, Harijan Seva Sangh,New Delhi
Ram Chandra Rahi, President, Central Gandhi Smarak Nidhi,New Delhi
Surendra Kumar, Former General Secretary,Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi
Dr.Ramachandra Pradhan,Political Scientist and Historian
Justice P K Shamsudeen,Chairman Gandhi Peace Foundation ,Kochi Kerala
T R N Prabhu Chairman, Sevagram Ashram Prathistan ,Wardha
Dr.S P Udayakumar,Convener,People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
Dr. Wooday P Krishna,President, Karnataka Gandhi Smarak Nidhi
Dr. D Jeevankumar, Bengaluru
Lalitha Ramdas
Shobha Supekar, Aga Khan Palace,Pune
G. B. Shivaraju, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Karnataka
Kalanand Mani, Peaceful Society, Goa
Shuobamurthi Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, Bihar
Arup Rakshit, Mahatma Gandhi Gramseva Samity , Calcutta,Formerly of Delhi University
Kisan Patnaik,Social Activist,Delang,Orissa
Jaya Meethru, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi ,West Bengal
Dr. Harish Kumara BK , CEECo,Hassan, Karnataka
Prasun Latant, Senior Gandhian Journalist,Delhi
Adv. Santhosh Kumar Pradhan, Centre For Social Justice,Ahmedabad
K.Venu,Political Thinker,Kerala
Prof.B.Rajeevan,Writer,Kerala
Savitri Rajeevan,Poetess,Kerala
Civic Chandran,Editor,Padabhedam Monthly
Kalpatta Narayn,Writer,Kerala
V.T.Jaydevan, Poet, Kerala
Vijayaraghavan Cheliya,Lohiya Vchar Vedi
K.G.Jagadishan,Gandhi Smarak Nidhi
V.M.Michael,Secretary , Gandhi Peace Foundation,Kochi
Sunny Paikada, Gandhian Activist,Kerala
Adv.Georgekutty Kadaplackal, Harithamargam,Kerala
Dr. Siby K . Joseph, Institute of Gandhian Studies,Wardha
Gandhian Collective
Gandhi Bhavan
Kacherippadi
Ernakulam
Kochi - 18
Kerala
Ph.
9744558250
9207604997
8547454244
9447181316
Email gandhiancollective@gmail.com
