Death is inevitable for all human beings, whether due to natural causes or unnatural causes such as accidents.
However, on some occasions, people also commit suicide because of immature reactions to certain events or emotional outbursts brought about by short-sightedness. All religions disapprove of such acts of suicide.
There are also occasions when some people seek permission to die (known as euthanasia). Most countries do not consider euthanasia to be appropriate.
Obviously, the general consensus is that no human being has the right to end his or her own life voluntarily.
During the past few decades, particularly in India, some activists and politicians have undertaken what is known as an “indefinite fast,” demanding the implementation of a particular regulation or protesting what they consider to be an injustice that needs to be rectified by the government. However, it is observed that, in most such cases, these so-called “fasts unto death” do not result in death. Instead, the individuals eventually end their fast, either in response to an appeal or, on rare occasions, when their demands are accepted.
Of course, Mahatma Gandhi gave a certain degree of respectability to the practice of fasting for personal or social reasons. This seems to have created a trend among later-day politicians and activists to resort to fasting for almost any cause.
The admirers of Mahatma Gandhi describe his fasts as a form of self-purification or self-reflection in response to unfortunate developments or outbreaks of violence that he was unable to control.
In recent times, Anna Hazare undertook a widely publicized fast unto death in India to protest against corruption in the government and public administration and to demand stronger anti-corruption laws. The fast ended after Anna Hazare received certain vague assurances. However, there has been little change in the level of corruption in society. Some of the activists who supported Anna Hazare later became full-fledged politicians, won elections on the promise of fighting corruption, and were themselves later accused of engaging in corrupt practices.
There have been very few instances of activists or politicians actually losing their lives as a result of a “fast unto death.”
Because of the repeated use of threats of fasts unto death, particularly in India, fasting for a cause is increasingly being viewed as a cheap political tactic employed for motivated reasons.
Generally, when someone undertakes a prolonged fast, the fasting individual is viewed with sympathy by the public. However, when fasting is undertaken for political purposes or as a means of provoking mass upheaval and social tension, it should be regarded as a coercive tactic that is unethical and condemnable.
Several religions advocate fasting on certain occasions as a desirable means of attaining mental or spiritual enlightenment and, in some cases, as being beneficial for health.
However, those who undertake fasts for political purposes or to force events in their favor misuse the concept of fasting, which Mahatma Gandhi helped make a respectable and noble act.
