The Northeast often gets into the mainstream India news for the wrong reasons. This time it's all about Irom Sharmila. For the wrong reasons, though.
The not-so-young-anymore woman, unfortunately, has become a rallying point between the Hazare brigade and the Hazare bashers. The only point common to Kisan Baburao Hazare and Iron Sharmila Chanu is that both have had undertaken fasts. That's where the odious comparison ends.
For, Hazare did so as a blackmailing tool and Sharmila did as a protest — that was the last thing that she could do to take on the might of the State which, through its draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, has heaped untold miseries on the people of her state. And elsewhere too.
By pulling Sharmila by the hair into the heated debate that has been raging over the means and ends of the anti-corruption juggernaut, and by coaxing her to react to the Indian government's reaction to the Hazare fast, one not only undermines Sharmila's sacrifice, but also makes her a needless bone of contention.
Sharmila was just 28 when she began her fast on November 4, 2000. Today she's 39 plus. She's frittered away her youth, and the Indian establishment has been callously cocking a snook at her all this while. She's been written about, films had been made on her, but for her mileage was not the issue. Hazare, on the other hand, posed shamelessly for the still and television cameras.
Talking of stereotypes, yes, Sharmila does belong to a stereotype — that of the archetypal Manipuri woman: resolute, simple, and one who does one mince words when she speaks. Dragging her into this controversy is an insult to both her qualities and her sacrifice. And the issue at hand — the AFSPA.
This is unabashed and parochial politicking. Yet, Sharmila's struggle is more political than Hazare's. Step a foot away and you will see that the Hazare agitation is driven by jingoism, and the same bloodthirsty jingoists are the ones who have been undermining Sharmila all these years. Is it surprising that none of the Hazare bandwagon, maybe with the exception of Agnivesh, have never spoken against human rights abuses? Especially, ones perpetrated by the State.
