TODAY -
No hard and fast rules?
- The Hindu -
Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty | April 20, 2011
Hazare is now basking in the success of generating a nationwide movement against corruption; and if all goes well, a historic legislation is on its way.
But the trajectory Hazare's protest took may have exposed the Central Government's double standards. In faraway Manipur, a frail woman called Irom Sharmila has been under arrest for years now. Her crime: Fasting for over a decade. She has been fasting to demand the repeal of the colonial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
"Though the committee members did not have the remit to examine the action of Sharmila or its merits, it did advertise in the media and its website for submissions/depositions, and there was none from Sharmila," says another committee member Lt. Gen (Retd.) S.V. Raghavan of the think-tank, Delhi Policy Group. Of course, nobody ever thought of meeting Sharmila to get her side of the story, like the government did in Anna Hazare's case. The report, a copy of which The Hindu had in 2006, clearly ruled that "The Act is too sketchy, too bald and quite inadequate in several particulars."
"Hazare only questioned the corrupt politicians, so it was easy for the Government to respond to it but Sharmila has questioned the State and its wrongdoing. That is why she is facing stiff resistance. She has done what she could do, now is the time for the civil society from all over India to take up her cause and force the Government to amend the draconian law. Why can't people from outside Manipur organise a mass fast on her behalf? If the Government listens only to Hazare, I request him to fast for her."
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** This Post is uploaded on April 21, 2011.
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