Prashant Bhushan: Indian Diaspora Groups Show Solidarity, Call for Chain Fasting starting August 22

Please join us wherever you are on August 22nd in a day of solidarity fasting with Prashant Bhushan (see flyer above).

August 22nd will be the START of chain fasting, so if you are unable to join us on that day (especially if you are in India), please join us on any day of the next seven days, through 29th.

The chain fasting will continue beyond the 29th, based on developments in India, perhaps as long as the imminent threat to Indian democracy continues.

We are honoured that the fast will be spearheaded by a group in Los Angles, who have been chain fasting for the last six months for Peace. Here’s a note from the organizer, Suniti Sanghavi.

“We will observe an International solidarity fast for Prashant Bhushan starting August 22 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. Please participate to lend your voice to this struggle for our basic constitutional rights: sign up to fast at https://tinyurl.com/SolidarityFast

“For background, please see https://www.thequint.com/news/world/indian-diaspora-stands-with-prashant-bhushan

“To follow this solidarity fast on Facebook, please visit https://facebook.com/events/s/international-solidarity-fast-/293449401951189/?ti=icl

“You can follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChainFasting"

#FastForPrashantBhushan; #SaveOurJudiciary; #SaveAmbedkarsLegacy

Best, Suniti

If you plan to join Suniti and friends and all the others on the fast starting August 22nd, please register here::

If possible, please also send a selfie with a placard “I am fasting to Prashant Bhushan” or “I am fasting to Save India’s Judiciary” or any other thought that is close to your heart. Videos less than a minute long are also welcome.

Please send your photos and videos to the FB page below:

We will post them on Facebook and on this website.

Please see press reports on a Press Conference held on August 19th by six US-based Diaspora organisations (including HfHR) in support of Prashant, with Indira Jaising and Rajmohan Gandhi as featured speakers.

Here’s are excerpts, as reported by The Wire:

“Human rights lawyer and Padma Shri awardee, Indira Jaising, spoke first at the press conference and held that the charges against Bhushan were invalid on legal grounds.

‘The judgement violates three sacred rights: the right not to be deprived of life and liberty except by due process of law (due process is violated by not framing a charge and by not having a public hearing); the right to free speech (the right to free speech by not permitting fair criticism except on pain of prosecution); and the right to legal counsel (the right to representation by targeting lawyers who appear in court demanding accountability and justice for us all),’ she said.

“several speakers held that the Supreme Court's verdict on Bhushan spelled disaster for the very nature of India's democracy. Among speakers who highlighted Bhushan’s role as an activist through the ages, was historian Rajmohan Gandhi, who held that it is not Bhushan but the Supreme Court which appears to be on trial. ‘Prashant Bhushan’s standing as a defender of the rights of the Indian people has grown decade by decade, and year by year. The future will see him as one of the great Indians of our time. My anxiety is about the standing of the Supreme Court,’ he said. As Rajmohan Gandhi said, ‘it is not Prashant Bhushan on trial, it is India’s Supreme Court.’”