Where giving to the poor is a religious duty that brings luck and blessing, the givers depend on the beggars as much as the beggars depend on them. The poor supply the prayers and good wishes that the comfortable want every morning to chase off bad dreams and keep their hopes alive. That dependence is the beggars' hidden source of power.
People with nothing to withhold but their acceptance can still strike by refusing to take what others need to give. Once the poor turn down alms from everyone, the givers must go looking for them and carry the gifts to them. The flow of need reverses.
Officials worried about how the country looks to tourists and outsiders treat the visible poor as a 'running sore' to be kept out of sight in the capital. The language of hygiene, economy and national prestige turns human beings into 'detritus' to be cleared away by force.
The poor's revolt starts with insisting on their own humanity, 'We are not dogs!', and then deciding that others must be made to see it. Collective action follows from that claim to dignity, not from material demands.
A community caught between traditional obligations and modern ambitions ends up wanting contradictory things, such as removing the beggars it still needs for its blessings. People who once swallowed old customs with indifference now refuse them because 'times have changed.'