Democracy and Discontent: Why can't 'they' hear Irom Sharmila?

Sunday Guardian | Manjusha Madhu 23rd Oct

The recent attack on members of the Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign (SSSC) near the arts faculty in Delhi University brings to the fore endemic issues in the way the Indian state has dealt with conflict areas, namely the North East and Kashmir, and the fall out of the increasing militarisation in these areas.

It was only when the Anna movement gained momentum that many intellectuals and activists pointed out the irony of how her decade-long hunger strike's had failed to garner the kind of attention it was due. "It's only through Anna that Sharmila's struggle started getting wider attention. It's not a choice for us. Unfortunately, the North-East does not seem to exist for the rest of the country," points out Bimol Akhoijam, Professor of Sociology at JNU.

Professor Akhoijam goes on to claim that army chiefs and bureaucrats have repeatedly emphasised that North East issues are relatively unimportant for the rest of the country. He says, "I think this is the fundamental problem; what does it mean to say the North East does not exist? I think it's an ethically and morally disturbing question to ask. If we do not exist, then what is the Army doing there?" This attack on the SSSC raised several key questions and highlighted the urgent need for 'mainland' Indians to understand the complexity of the ethnic, linguistic and religious diversities that make up the multiple struggles playing out in the North East.