Despite this long history, the current strike has evoked much commentary about hunger strikes being an anachronism. Early in the protests, supporters were calling Wangchuk a “modern Gandhi” and the government’s representatives vehemently opposed the comparison. Gandhi taking his last meal before the start of his fast, Rajkot, 1939. Credit: In public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. This brings us to the most important reason to think about Gandhi’s fasts in the current moment. After all, what was ultimately salient about Gandhi’s protests was not that the powers that be refused to bow to him, it was that the people protested.