Irom Sharmila, Enrich Indian Democracy





Irom Sharmila is 44 years old. For around 37% of her life, she has not had a proper meal. She does not have a home, where she can cook, read, move around, have a family . She lives in jail in Imphal, Manipur, which is politely called a `special ward', where she is force-fed, nasally: the authorities do not want the public outrage and rebellion that Gandhi threatened to materialise, with his fasts during the freedom struggle, without any mechanism for force-feeding. Sharmila is a cult today . Many profit from cults. But now, she will enter electoral politics.From exerting moral pressure on the state at one remove, she will move to exerting pressure on the state directly . Of course, Sharmila will win any poll. But for which organisation? Eve ry regime in India has let Manipur and the northeast down. There will be plenty of `welfare' leeches hounding her, whose fortunes have been created from her mi sery. She will be a heroine in electoral battle, a winner, but a lonely one -unless she joins hands with the larger struggle across India for full realisation of democracy , which remains a promise yet not redeemed for millions of people in India.
Sharmila decided to do what she did in November 2000. On the 2nd of the month, military shot 10 (some accounts say 12) people dead at a bus stop in Malom, a suburb of Itanagar. Why this Malom `massacre' happened is still a mystery: the official version refers to a grenade attack. Most people, including Sharmila, laugh at this. The military shot dead many , young and old. At least 42 were thrashed. Sharmila asked, why . And did the classic act of civil disobedience, which has gone on for almost 16 years. In diminutive Desmond Coutinho, who wrote to her and sent stuff to read, she found love. Her new turn to take direct part in politics can only enrich Indian democracy .

Source: Economic Times, 28-07-2016