Politics of Hunger strike and Naked Protest

By Glend Kipgen *

Protest against killing of Manorama by Assam Rifles - July 2004
Pix : Atom Samarendra (e-pao.net)

Manipur is home not only to diverse ethnic nationalities and communities but also an epicenter of strikes, bandhs and protests. We have no dearth of issues, grievances, demands, etc enough to warrant imposition of strikes, blockades, etc or to lodge protest against the authority. Post-colonial Manipur has witnessed three incidents of sensational protests : violent protest, non-violent-peaceful protest, and Nude protest.

The inerasable major violent protest was taken out on June 18, 2001, against the Government of India-NSCN-IM ceasefire extension "without territorial limits" that left the State Assembly building, symbol of our Parliamentary democracy going up in smokes and the subsequent carnage of 18 protestors.

The unique case of a still continuing decadal hunger strike by a woman (a young girl then and now a spinster), Irom Sharmila Chanu which even caught the attention of the international community, is in protest against the imposition of black laws in the shape of "obnoxious" Armed Forces Special Powers Act. And, the arrest and subsequent cold-blooded murder of Miss Th Manorama, an alleged UG (PLA) cadre ignited the fury of the "Manipuri mothers" who threw down their cloths for the historic nude protest in July 2004.

Hunger strike, a non-violent democratic form of protest is nothing new and strange for India. In ancient India, Sidhartha (500 BC), who later on came to be known as Gautama Budha, undertook hard penance by fasting to bones in search of "Nirvana" (salvation from misery). It was a self-imposed physical torture and agony for the Budha to submerge himself in deep thoughts without food and water for days together trying to find out the causes of life's misery, its solution and other philosophical aspects of human existence on earth. As he sought he found it and attained Nirvana which forms the basis of Budhism, one of the leading religions on earth.

During the course of Indian freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi invented a unique weapon, the "Satyagrahya": passive non-violent form of protest based on truth and moral force to hit back at the British Government's injustice towards Indians. Gandhiji often went on hunger strikes in protest against specific policies or legislations of the Raj. He also undertook fasting on several occasions to cleanse and invigorate him spiritually and morally. The technique of Satyagraha and the method of protest adopted by Gandhi shook the moral conscience of the British administration and contributed in no small measure towards the ultimate freedom of the country.

In India today while the erstwhile renowned hunger strikers like Medha Patkar and Sunderlal Bahaguna (socio-environmental activists) have slowly and stealthily disappeared we now see the emergence of high profile hunger strikers in the person and shape of souls like Anna Hazare (social activist) and Baba Ramdev (spiritual guru) whose causes are identical except the black money clause of the latter's entrant to 'fasting-dom'.

These guys have given bad name to the institution of hunger strike founded by Gandhiji and defiled the sanctity of moral ingredients attached with this form of agitation by politicising their fight against corruption with conspicuous vested interest and intent towards ultimate self gratification. Their demands are fantastic but unrealistic in the sense no Government or authority would accede to such demands with uncanny ease, and not because those at the helms of power would like to thwart every attempt to eradicate the evil of corruption.

Both these crusaders against corruption may not dare mouth their personal political ambitions openly but their loyalty or closeness to their political groups is well-known. Lord Budha's fast though not directed against anybody was pure and genuine. The fast undertaken by Gandhiji and directed against the British Government or otherwise emanated from the genuine desire to achieve something for his people and never for personal gains. But these rascals camouflaged themselves under Gandhian ways in pursuit of name and fame for themselves and their cohort followers or masters. In a seditious war tone the anti-corruption God man went to the extent of threatening to raise and train fighters in the event of a continued police crackdown on his campaign for disruption to corruption.

In spite of this, the fight against corruption is the need of the hour particularly for the State of Manipur which earned the dubious distinction of being one of the most "dirtily corrupt" States in India and it (corruption) forms one of the conventional issues raised to candidates by "interviewers" including the much-revered UPSC boards. The cause espoused by Mr Hazare and Baba Ramdev has sent shiver down the spine of the rich politicians and bureaucrats of the country including those in Manipur who obviously could (must) have possibly stashed their cash in some foreign banks.

There could be some such people who would not mind to go on a counter fast unto death agitation to demand that the demands of Hazarre-Ramdev duo to cleanse the land of corruption are not met. Who knows some 'God-fearing' corrupt people might have done a fasting prayer for Anna Hazarre and Baba Ramdev to actually die in course of their hunger strike so that the demand to detect and repatriate black money from abroad is buried along with the hunger strikers themselves!

In Manipur, apart from Irom Sharmila, the lone fighter who has completed ten years of "fasting" demanding repeal of the draconian AFSPA, hunger strikes including relay ones to save Sharmila's life, are often staged by one group or the other in pursuit of collective interests, etc. However, most of the hunger strikes being perfect dramas ended in the strikers landing up in jail. There is no recorded memory of hunger strike casualty —died while fasting for a cause.

Filling one's stomach to the brim with food and water and then sitting or lying flat in front of journalists' cameras to pose as hunger strikers which is not an uncommon fraudulent practice in Manipur will serve no purpose. Even Sharmila's fast for ten years now is unlikely to produce the desired result. Though her cause is valid and genuine and her relentless struggle is incredibly admirable but the fact that she has not died after ten years of continuous "hunger strike" sends signals to the authority that she has indeed learnt to live with it (hunger strike).

Sharmila neither chew nor swallow the grub but allowed herself for a "force-feed" with protein rich and balanced diet through nose-feeding. Had she refused feeding of any sort from the start, something (Tang-tabah) would have happened to her and the State ten years back.

Manipur doesn't lag behind the west even in nude protest. However, unlike the naked protests witnessed in the west mostly organised under the aegis of Animal Rights Groups involving bevy of beauties demanding ban on animal slaughter for fur, etc, the historic nude protest staged in Manipur in 2004 was by "mothers" and the reason for such protest was "rape and murder" committed ironically by those supposed to protect the victim from such criminal offence.

The protesters holding banners that reads "rape us" screamed at the Assam Rifles personnel accused of committing the crime. This naked protest was one of the most successful protests in Manipur in the sense that it contributed to the burning issue of the day gain wide publicity and to the ultimate booking of the rapist—murderers.