Anna to visit Manipur, back Sharmila's crusade
India Against Corruption core committee member Akhil Gogoi on Monday said Anna Hazare would soon visit Manipur to support Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly 11 years seeking repeal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
"Once Anna is released from hospital, his first destination will be the northeast. His first stop-over in the region will be Assam, where he will address an anti-dam rally. He will then visit Manipur in support of Sharmila's crusade against AFSPA," the RTI activist and peasants' leader from Assam told newspersons here after returning from New Delhi, where he was with the veteran Gandhian during the latter's fast against graft.
"The India Against Corruption's core committee has finalized Anna's visit to Manipur. After the 288-hour fast, he is not keeping well and is in hospital now. Once he is discharged, he will visit the northeast. Anna is very much in solidarity with Sharmila's cause," said the general secretary of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), which has been spearheading a movement against the possible adverse effects of the huge dams coming up in the region, particularly Arunachal Pradesh, on the people in the downstream areas.
Earlier, another member of the India Against Corruption core committee, Arvind Kejriwal, had invited Sharmila to join Anna's agitation on the Ramlila Ground. Though the Iron Lady from Manipur expressed her solidarity with Anna's movement, she expressed her inability to join him in Delhi. She reasoned that state authorities would not allow her to leave Manipur because she was in judicial custody.
At present, Sharmila is lodged in the security ward of the Imphal-based Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital where she is being forced-fed through her nose. She launched her crusade after Assam Rifles personnel killed 10 civilians at Malom village near Imphal airport on November 2, 2000. Sharmila started the indefinite fast three days later, demanding repeal of the act.
Akhil said Sharmila's issue cropped up after a section of the media reported while Anna's fast caught the imagination of the country, the Iron Lady from Manipur, despite being on a fast for a decade, did not get any attention from the government or people from other parts of the country.
On charges that Anna's movement was backed by groups such as the RSS, Akhil agrued that secular credentials were kept intact during the agitation. Denying that Anna's anti-graft crusade was only confined to the urban middle class, the RTI activist said farmers from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the outskirts of Delhi joined the Gandhian in huge numbers.