Spot the difference: Hazare vs Irom Sharmila
- ibnlive.com -

Rituparna Chatterjee | Apr 20, 2011 at 06:40pm IST

Irom Sharmila Chanu and Anna Hazare have one thing in common – the ability to fast indefinitely for what they perceive is right. But the similarities end there.

She has been on a political fast for 11 years but her silent resilience moves you when you realize the sheer magnitude of what she is single-handedly trying to achieve.

Far from the glare of studio lights of television channels and tangled wires of a hundred microphones, in the hilly haven of Manipur, Irom Sharmila Chanu has launched a movement that has found resonance with her people. The Manipuris have christened her Menghaobi or 'The Fair One.'

Why has Hazare's movement been a success?

It has much to do with the fact that corruption as a broad subject is easier understood by the Indian middle class than an obscure martial law that is perceived to have no bearing on the lives of the majority of people.

Why has the Centre ignored Sharmila?

The government's quick acquiescence to Hazare's demands while ignoring Sharmila's, bears testimony to the geo-political importance (or lack of it) of the North East in a country where caste divides can shift the balance of power.

A populist movement ahead of crucial Parliamentary election is harder for the government to ignore.

AFSPA has been imposed in Manipur and most of the Northeast since 1980. It allows the army to use force, shoot or arrest anyone without warrant on the mere suspicion that someone has committed or was about to commit a cognisable offence. The Act also prohibits any legal or judicial proceeding against army personnel without the previous sanction of the Central Government.