Abstract
‘Burning Bright Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur’ is an excellent book on the Iron Lady of Manipur, Irom sharmila Chanu and her struggle for peace in the gorgeous yet troubled Indian state of Manipur. The book is divided into twenty-one short chapters each packed with information contributing significantly to the ongoing researches on the armed violence and ethnic conflicts in the Northeastern part of India. Simultaneously, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the book evokes a sense of empathy towards the decade old fast-unto-death of Irom sharmila and the struggle of hers and like-minded people in the northeastern part of the country for freedom and removal of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from the valleys and hills of Manipur. The author, Deepti Priya Mehrotra, besides being a teacher at the Delhi University holds interests in feminism, peoples’ movement, education and theatre. She is an activist, a researcher and a scholar. Therefore, her book, ‘Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur’ is a perfect mix of theory and practice, logic and passion, biography and contextual analysis.
The book starts with the violent incident of Malom, a few kilometers away from Imphal. It was a normal day in November 2000 until some men from the Assam Rifles killed ten innocent people waiting for a bus in the bus depot in Malom. This action was taken under the draconian law of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) (Hereafter AFSPA). This ‘lawful’ action prompted Irom Sharmila, an ordinary girl of Manipur to instantly declare fast unto death till this law is abolished.
The author portrays the early life of Sharmila in a consistent manner to illustrate the origin of inner strength of Sharmila for her decade old fast. Sharmila’s childhood gave her a sense of collectiveness and selflessness. Sharmila’s grandmother who had participated in the second Nupilan or Women’s War of 1939 strongly influenced the children of the families. The lack of employment, rampant corruption in the society and the state, the fight of the Nisha Bandhis and the Meira Paibis to safeguard the young population of Manipur from alcoholism and random arrests by the Indian army, the chronic poverty of the common people—all these had a deep impact on the young and innocent mind of Sharmila. In the beginning of her adulthood, she started questioning the existing state and economic system.
The author rightly argues that Irom Sharmila’s association with Human Rights Alert (HRA) and her participation in an Independent Members Inquiry Commission into the impact of AFSPA in Manipur helped her getting a clear understanding of what is AFSPA and why it should be removed. During her internship at HRA, Irom Sharmila read extensively about AFSPA and the countless atrocities in the name of law including rapes, abductions and killings. Sharmila was disturbed by the fact that for years, the lives of the common people have been controlled by the army on the one hand and the insurgents on the other. The Malom massacre finally broke her silence and encouraged her to take some firm steps for her people. For Sharmila, it’s her ‘bounden duty’.
As the author keeps describing the incidents in Sharmila’s life, we found that Sharmila is charged with ‘Attempt to Suicide’, for which a person can be sentenced up to one year of imprisonment, under Section 309 of the Indian penal Code (IPC). Throughout the following years, Sharmila was arrested and released only to be re-arrested by the police. She is being force fed throughout the years. The author explains, Sharmila agreed to this process as she did not want to leave her life without achieving what she has dreamt—removal of AFSPA from Manipur. All these years, Sharmila was kept in the security wing of Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in solitary confinement with rare visitors.
The author says that Sharmila’s struggle has helped us to redefine the concept of development in Manipur. Sharmila’s demand for withdrawal of AFSPA would mean that politicians and policy makers would address the real life problems of the common people and Manipur would overcome its dependency syndrome to become a self-sufficient state.
Another important point to note about Sharmila’s struggle, according to the author, is that it is an integral part of fights led by Manipuri women against state sponsored violence. The author has noted two types of struggle led by Manipuri women both involving their own bodies. The one is a kind where Meira Paibis launched nude protest against the rape of Manorama Devi and the other is the fast of Sharmila for removal of AFSPA. In both cases, women use their bodies as weapons against the state led violence.
The book explains why Sharmila’s fight in the remote corner of the country often goes unnoticed. In 2006–07, Sharmila drew substantial amount of attention from the national and international media during her fast in Delhi. Geographic distance between Manipur and Delhi itself acts as a barrier in gaining popularity for Sharmila’s struggle. In 2007, Sharmila came back to Imphal and immediately the police took her to the JL Nehru Hospital’s Security Wing. Here re-started her journey of confinement.
In the meanwhile, in 2004, in the wake of huge level of criticism for incidents of Manorama Devi’s rape while in custody of the Assam Rifles and Irom Sharmila’s continued fast, the government of India had recommended a commission headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy. The Jeevan Reddy Commission recommended that AFSPA should be included in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, applicable to entire India and that way the Northeast’s indictment of being deliberately discriminated against mainland India be removed. This created another round of criticism against the Reddy Commission and its appointee Government of India.
The readers of the book would be thankful to Mehrotra for conceptualizing and writing a semi-formal, well defined and easy-reading book for the common people of India with the intention to make them aware of Irom Sharmila’s struggle. The author has extensively studied the subject and Manipur’s past and present, which can be found from her Notes section. Additionally, she interacted with the subject and other stakeholders to understand the entire situation. The book ends with a message for the fellow Indians to not to leave Irom Sharmila alone in her fight for justice and rights of the Manipuri people. Though, one should remember that Sharmila’s struggle is a not a lonely one in the country, different people have demonstrated movements at different levels against the state sponsored security system and development. A study on comparing people’s movements for justice, peace and humanity in different states of India and the approaches of the governments to tackle those fights may work as a complementary along with Mehrotra’s book on Irom Sharmila.