Ravinder Uppula, a Hyderabad-based Infosys techie, has declared a ‘Dravaahaara Deeksha’ or an indefinite hunger strike beginning from January 26, in an attempt to encourage the public to demand transparency, accountability and integrity in politics. Ravinder, who twice lost contesting the Telangana assembly elections in 2014 and 2018, had made three major promises in his election manifesto to ensure a clean and transparent political system in the country.
Speaking to TNM, Ravinder says that he will be on a hunger strike beginning from Republic Day, and plans to continue it for the next 100 days to create political awareness among people.
“Beginning from tomorrow, I will be on a liquid diet and I aspire to quit only when I think the people are ready to demand for a better condition of administration in our country. I will be continuing my job and going regularly to office. After I obtain permission from the police, weekly once, I will be staging an awareness meet at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park so that people know why I am on a hunger strike and how we can together aspire for a better future,” says Ravinder.
Ravinder, in his election manifesto, had made three major promises to bring about political reforms in the state. First, he promised not to resort to any sort of corruption or take a single rupee, be it in the form of donations or gifts. Secondly, he promised to give a report card to the people after every 100 days of work if elected into power. Thirdly, he assured people that he would take a lie detector test if his accountability was under question, and prove that he hasn’t taken a single rupee in the last 100 days of his work.
Ravinder says he is embarking on a hunger strike so that people realise that they are not alone, and can work collectively towards achieving a better political system in the country. His appeal is not to the government but to the public who, he says, should be wiser at choosing their public representatives.
“People should stop voting on the basis of religion, caste or creed. They should choose candidates who are interested in people’s welfare and not their own. People should demand for contestants to make themselves accountable to the public,” Ravinder says, adding, “I will quit from the strike when at least 100 candidates who are contesting in the upcoming general elections promise to make accountability, transparency and integrity a part of their election manifesto and also promise to implement them if elected into power.”
The 46-year-old techie had contested the state elections in 2014 and 2018 from the Serilingampally constituency and had managed to get only 370 and 257 votes respectively.