New Delhi: They have agitated against the Government, protested against unfair policies, picketed roads and offices, resorted to stone pelting and violent protests but nothing has worked.
So the people of India have taken another path in their attempt to persuade authorities to listen to and understand them.
They are taking inspiration from the latest Bollywood flick Lage Raho Munnabhai and are adopting the Gandhian way of peaceful protests.
On Thursday, cotton farmers in Yavatmal, Maharashtra started a movement called Kisanbhai Lage Raho. The farmers worshipped the photo of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in an effort to draw the authorities attention to their demands -- cotton price at Rs 2,700 per quintal and complete loan waiver.
Effigies of Manmohan Singh, Deshmukh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar were garlanded by widows and sons of those who committed suicide following the Vidarbha agrarian crisis.
They claim that they have no faith in the system or the Rs 3,750 crore aid package announced by the Prime Minister. They say that all they want is restoration of advance bonus in the Cotton Monopoly Scheme.
And it's not just the farmers who are taking up the Gandhigiri style of protest. Traders in the Capital are using the style to protest MCD's sealing drive, which is due to resume on November 1.
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On Thursday, traders gathered outside the MCD Headquarters in Chandni Chowk, where they placed colourful bouquets and cards with 'Get Well Soon' messages for the civic authorities and the state government, in sharp contrast to the violence that marred their bandh last month.
They say that the Prime Minister and the ruling UPA are great supporters of the concept of Gandhigiri and what better way to persuade them, than by something that they believe in.
The Prime Minister has all along been referring to the relevance of Gandhigiri, a coinage for non-violent means of protest, in this modern day and age.
"The MCD authorities and state government officials seem to be suffering from some mental illness by carrying on with the sealing drive and we wish them a speedy recovery with these gifts," said Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders.
Meanwhile, at AIIMS, it's a common sight to see doctors holding placards urging the Health Minister, A Ramadoss, to 'Get Well Soon'.
After the OBC quota fiasco, when medical students staged violent protests, the resident doctors and students decided on flowers and cards when Ramadoss took his own sweet time to come and pay dengue patients a visit - this despite the fact that the Prime Minister President were among the first to reach AIIMS and take stock of the situation.
And an NGO in Goa - Goa State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) - on Friday decided to protest the indecent behaviour of their director with Gandhigiri.
GSACS workers alleged that the director was abusive towards NGOs working in the field of AIDS awareness and funds sanctioned for AIDS control programmes were not being utilised in proper manner.
The organisations, gathered under the banner of Goa People's Forum, marched to the office of Kanekar and offered him flowers. They were joined by many social activists.
And even love-struck professors fell for Gandhi's style of peaceful protest.
Professor Matuknath Chaudhary, who had recently hit the headlines for his affair with former student Julie, led a march with some of his students in Gandhigiri style to garland the Patna University vice-chancellor and demand the revocation of his suspension.
Chaudhary, a professor of Hindi at B N College in Patna, was suspended about three months ago by Vice-Chancellor S Ehtashamuddin for taking Julie without authorisation to a class where he had delivered a lecture on ‘love’ and for illegally occupying an official flat.
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