The Poet of Non-Violence

Undaunted, unflagging and unswerving, a lone woman is fighting the might of the State. She wants to revoke the draconian law that grants armed forces absolute power in the troubled areas of India, like J&K and Assam.

A Gandhian in her own right – on par with Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr – she believes in the power of the moral force over the brutal force. The world will recognise her tomorrow but she refused to be cowed down by the armed battalions whose presence lead to gross human rights violations.

For refusing food and water for more than 500 weeks, she has been called “the world’s longest hunger striker”. The Iron Lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila is a poet and human rights activist. She was voted the woman icon of India by MSN Poll on International Women’s Day, 2014.

Early Life

Irom Sharmila Chanu was born on March 14, 1972. She is the ninth child in the family. Her mother was dry after nine children, and when Sharmila wailed for milk, her elder brother took her to nearby nursing mothers. As she grew up, she sought spiritual answers and religiously read the Bhagwad Gita. The quiet solitary girl practised yoga and learnt nature care.  She studied till class 12 and didn’t go to college.

Activism

In October 2000, Sharmila volunteered as an intern for Human rights “Independent People’s Inquiry Commission” translating for advocates in the inquiry commission. 

A month later, the “Malom Massacre” took place where ten civilians were shot by the Assam Rifles personnel. On November 4, she started a non-violent peaceful hunger strike to repeal AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Forces Act).

Since then Irom has been under a ritual of release and arrest every year since under IPC section 309, a person who “attempt to commit suicide” is punishable “with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both. Her health deteriorated rapidly, and nasal feeding was forced on her in order to keep her alive while under arrest.

By 2004, Irom had become an “icon of public resistance.” She went to Jantar Mantar for protest demonstration and wrote letters to the Prime Minister, the President, and the Home Minister.

On October 2, 2013 Amnesty India issued a press release recognising Irom as a “‘Prisoner of Conscience’, who is being held solely for a peaceful expression of her beliefs.

The next year, she was offered to contest in Lok Sabha polls from Aam Aadmi Party and from Indian National Congress. She denied both requests describing herself as a protester and not a politician.

Honors

Irom was awarded the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights

In 2009, she was awarded the first Mayillama Award of the Mayilamma Foundation, “for achievement of her nonviolent struggle in Manipur”.

In 2010, she won a lifetime achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission.