I have never understood the theory behind hunger strikes. The premise is “you are doing something evil but you are, or should be, concerned about my welfare “. What if no one cares? Imagine the prisoners in a Siberian gulag threatening to go on a hunger strike. Or in one of the Nazi death camps. Do you think it would work? If some fool wants to starve himself, voluntarily, I’m certainly not standing in his way. It’s just unassisted suicide.
It’s a combination of narcissism and infantile passive/aggressive behavior: “I’ll hold my breath till I turn blue!” mashed up with “You’ll feel so sorry after I’m dead!” Most people realize it’s idiotic self-defeating behavior and outgrow it by the time they reach puberty. A few — the ones with serious narcissism issues — imagine it elevates them to the status of Gandhi and stick with it as adults.