The Oblivious Truth of Irom Sharmila and Her Hunger Strike of 11 years.

 “If Sharmila dies, Parliament is directly responsible,” she thundered at a gathering of journalists. “If she dies, courts and judiciary are responsible, the military is responsible… If she dies, the executive, the PM and President are responsible for doing nothing… If she dies, each one of you journalists is responsible because you did not do your duty…” these are the statements made by the Iranian nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi on a trip to India in 2006 in support of Irom Sharmila Chanu.

Irom Sharmila, a poet, a social activist and a native of the ‘neglected’ state of Manipur and she is on hunger strike for almost 11 years now. Yes, eleven years, that is nothing in front of Anna Hazare’s fast of four days and still majority of Indians do not know about her and the cause she is fighting for. Irony, it is, that one person is getting so much media coverage and another person who is fighting for a similar cause is neglected by the government and most importantly by the media. She is fighting for the people of North East India and wants the repeal of AFSPA(Armed Forces Special Powers Act). The growing insurgency in Kashmir and North East India resulted in the inception of AFSPA. Citizens of these regions thought that now they would be safe from the militants but they did not know that atrocities by the men in uniform would follow soon. More than 20,000 people have been killed so far in Manipur alone, estimate the numbers of whole North East.

Gandhi inspires her, and in this country of Gandhi, she is being jailed as she expresses her solidarity towards the Draconian law of AFSPA. She is not doing this for fame, but for the people of North East who are helpless and weak in front of the ruthless army. She has been fasting because this is the only weapon left with her and then she is being charged under ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE and is being jailed for a year and then police arrest her again after 2-3 days. Isn’t this what Anna Hazare is doing, and the police is not arresting him under the same charge. Double Standards.

The big Indian media houses boast about their ethics, where are those ethics when it comes to the coverage of Irom’s struggle? Do these media houses only want sky high TRPs and not highlight the news and development regarding to Irom’s hunger strike? Strong questions are left unanswered about ETHICAL media.

Leaving aside the double standards of the police and the media, let me talk about the government now. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh formed a committee in 2004 to look into the matter of AFSPA, the committee was headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy. The report by the committee has been submitted to the government but it has not made it public yet but the report is there with The Hindu and it clearly recommends the repeal of AFSPA as "the Act, for whatever reason, has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and highhandedness". 

The report was submitted to the government years back but nothing has been done till now, the people of North East are still frightened by the Army.

The struggle of Irom has inspired many Indians and they are fighting for her cause in order to get justice. There was a gathering and candle light march at Delhi in August in support of Irom and soon there will be a march from Kashmir to Imphal. This march will create awareness about Irom and her fight for the people of Manipur and the North East. In October, a nationwide signature campaign is going to take place to express concern for the cause of Irom Sharmila. A campaign “Save Sharmila” is taking baby steps and with the help of students across the colleges of India, it is going to be a massive campaign. Student bodies have been formed to create awareness about Irom Sharmila at college level which will help in the mobilisation of the campaign. The members of the campaign are coming up with the screening of documentaries of Irom Sharmila, plays on her, articles on various websites and immense participation on social media platforms.

Soon the government will bow to the just demands of Irom Sharmila Chanu and will repeal the merciless AFSPA and justice would be done. Though this time time of eleven long years has resulted in massive health related problems for Irom, was reduced to 35 kilograms and her bones have become frail according to doctors. She has not met her mother for years, she says she will meet her only after the act is removed.