New Delhi: With a stack of fliers about Gaza in hand, Prof. Vipin Kumar Tripathi carefully hands each paper to the visitors of Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, in Old Delhi.
For Tripathi, the independence hero’s resting place was the perfect spot to mark India’s Independence Day and simultaneously raise awareness about Gaza and the mass starvation Israel has imposed on the enclave’s 2.1 million people.
On Friday, the 77-year-old Indian activist went on a fast as a form of nonviolent protest and to express solidarity with Palestinians, hoping to spark similar compassion for Palestine among his countrymen.
“I want to raise conscience because it is an Independence Day of our country and independence is incomplete unless we awaken the feeling for independence of others, (especially) the most oppressed ones,” Tripathi told Arab News.
“I am creating consciousness and awareness on the major issues confronting the people of the world and extreme violence that is going on in Gaza: People are starving to death, they are being forced to starve.”
