I'm not the typical gannet-next-door. I'm hungry to live my life as I want it to be. The mainland India is all gaga about Anna Hazare going to fast, while back in my hometown, we are fighting for our survival.
For 11 years, our Iron Lady, Irom Sharmila has been on a fast to protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). A droconian law which might be suitable in a land of dictator, but which has been imposed on us, making a mockery of democracy -- while India shouts about being the largest democratic country. Beware! This superlative is only by virtue of its unstoppable population.
First, the mainstream media of the mainland is not interested. We have no sponsors for the crony capitalists. Secondly, there is a mistaken belief that AFSPA affects only a part of the Great India, while this military law shams the democratic principles that India is boasting of.
This is not victimisation. Though we are used to it.
I do feel pity for the old man with his unaffected simplicity. But I have no polite words for his followers. Simple as that.
Arundhati Roy puts it aptly in The South Reports:
"... The right to protest of the people in Posco, Kalinganagar, Dandakaranya were taken away a long time ago. Even in Delhi, at the Jantar Mantar, people from Bhopal or the Narmada Valley cannot stay overnight. The Right to Protest is only for the middleclass...
When you talk of the 'Fast', you only mean Anna Hazare's fast. Right now, 10,000 villagers in Koodankulam are on a relay hunger-fast against a nuclear plant. Sharmila Irom has been on a fast for 10 years against an Act that allows soldiers to kill on mere suspicion. But we are not talking about these fasts.
Deep inside the forest in a tribal village, when 500 policemen surround and burn your village and there is no TV camera, you can't go on a hunger-strike. You can only fight back. In any case, can the hungry go on a hunger-strike?"
0 comments:
Post a Comment