The Iron Was Not Hot To Strike, Irom Sharmilaji.

Mahatma Gandhi according to Wiki, fasted 17 times for political reasons the longest ones with a duration of 21 days (1933 May, 1924 Sept & 1943 Feb). Aghast with the subjugation of his brethren, he fought for the independence and dignity of the nation through non violence methods and succeeded in doing so. He is lauded as the father of our nation. Irom Chanu Sharmila fasted once but for 16 years. Yea you read it correctly, and its not a typo. She fasted from November 2000 to August 2016 for repelling the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in her home state of Manipur, a decree that gave the paramilitary forces the authority ranging from search without warrant to use of deadly force on reasonable suspicion. After ending her fast to try for a political solution of the issue, she contested in the election and got a grand total of 90 votes and a load of humiliation.

Sharmila being removed to hospital during her fast.

I am a supporter of the AFSPA and strongly believe it is need in troubled areas like the Kashmir valley and in Naga, Ulfa & Maoist strongholds. I do not support or agree with Irom Sharmila or her erstwhile human rights activist friends to repeal this act, but I did root of her in this election. I read about her first in the early 2000's and wondered how could a person survive with out food for so long. The sights of nasogastric tubes that fed her cleared my doubts. Over the years her name popped up occasionally in the media that would gather her sympathy and at times accolades. I followed her through the news networks and was in awe of her determination to see it to the end. She tried to involve Anna Hazarae on his high day, wrote to the silent economist PM couple times and once attempted to make international awareness at UNHRC with the help of  Nobel peace price winner Shirin Ebadi. 

All in vain.

She did managed to turn many heads and drop even more jaws but never managed to gather enough support to win her cause neither with the public nor with the political elite. For a fete of such magnitude, the expected footfall is enormous, yet the sixteen year long struggle fizzed out. Why?

In my opinion, the most probable reason is because no one really cared about what happened in the North East. No one are the ones who are responsible to bring the attention of the masses to such issues and the ones who are supposed to take action on those issue. Unlike the politically and religiously lucrative state of Kashmir, Manipur hold very less place in the mind of the everyman and that means it sells less. Less of newspapers and magazines and less of TRP.

The world runs on money, so less the money, less the attention it requires.

Let that be so in the wide media-political landscape of India,yet how did Irom Sharmila loose an election with just 90 votes against a two time incumbent chief minister with over 18000 votes? After all she was in an extended diet of one and a half decades to end the suffering of the same people who had the chance to pay her back as votes.

Simple politics. She is a human rights activist and he a veteran politician. She had the sympathies of some villagers and the facultative support of a few activists and media outlets while he had the resources of the Congress party and its organizational machinery. She ended her fast in a low note without many noticing, she formed a party without any organizers or clear agenda and she declared her intent to fight the CM too hastily and that too in his home ground. She hardly had a campaign strategy nor offered a plan of what she will do if elected. Aravind Kejarival of the AAP defeated the then CM of Delhi Sheela Dikshit in 2012 after a high voltage anti corruption campaign (thanks to Anna Hazarae), had an action plan and a lot of promises (how ever absurd they may be) offered to the people. His AAP manged to run decent ground work and a very impressive one in media both social and paid and he reaped the dividend. Irom Sharmila neither had his resources, nor capable supporters or a alternative to offer the voters. Politics is never won by sacrifices or hard work alone, but just like any other industry, marketing is the key. She failed in projecting herself as the Aung San Suu Kyi of Maipur, and rather naively trusted in the goodness of people to carry her through.

She wasted her chance to make it big by going low-key. Sixteen years of suffering wasted in the haste to contest in an election she was bound to loose. The news showed a shawl clad, tear eyed Iron Lady announcing her exit from politics, but I hope she reconsiders. I hope she learns the ways of politics and return as a capable, different person. 

After all sixteen years is a long time to be wasted for any cause.