Harohalli Srinivasaiah Doreswamy is reclining on his bed after another busy day. But he isn’t resting. He’s leafing through printed sheets and then nods his approval to an activist standing by. The landline phone perched among a pile of books on the window sill, typical of south Bangalore homes of a certain vintage, rings and Doreswamy answers, shooting off questions relating to an event that he’d participated. No sooner than that’s done, a farmer leader drops in and they get into a discussion.
At 102, the venerable freedom fighter—who has just concluded a five-day protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at Bangalore’s Town Hall earlier in the day—is mounting yet another campaign. This, he says, must go on up to the 2024 general elections and there will be demonstrations three days every month. The countrywide anti-CAA protest, even if sporadic, has “shaken the entire political scene” and he feels it should be taken forward in an organised manner.
“The Modi government is trying to divert...
