In an exclusive interview with SocialStory, the Iron Lady of Manipur shares perspectives on her 16 years-long hunger strike. She also discusses how she came about to start a political party and is now for it.

Looking at Irom Sharmila’s hunger strike is like ploughing the soil – it unearths the flaws in our democracy like ploughing would bring out the worms. Here, she sheds light on where we, as a country, are failing, and what we can do about it. Understanding this, and her role as a social and now a political activist, is the need of the hour.

These words are a testament to the fact that while the body can be confined, the mind cannot. Irom Chanu Sharmila wrote these words in the special ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, where she was confined and force-fed for the last 16 years. Much has been said in praise of this epic hunger strike, and the unparalleled determination of this woman. But let’s take a moment to let that percolate – 16 long years of undeterred resolve. Does that not toll like a bell in a quiet room?

If one had to look at it pragmatically, and not merely in awe of this effort, this decision to fast, and continue fasting like she did, seems incomprehensible; especially so for the younger generation that knows best the art of moving on.

How then, do we understand the activism of Sharmila? Since the day she vowed to fast till the repeal of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), there has continued to be innumerable cases of Human Rights abuse. AFSPA may have been lifted from certain assemblies of Impahl but Manipur is still plagued by fake encounters, disappearances, tortures, corruption, and extortions. A three-judge bench appointed by the Supreme Court in 2013, to probe the allegations of 1,528 cases of fake encounters, found the very first few cases to be extrajudicial encounters, clearly indicating the nature of the rest.