“I would have been working in the State Agriculture Department had Sharmila not begun her fast,” says Irom Singhajit. His youngest sister, Irom Sharmila, has been fasting since November 2000, demanding repeal of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 to put a lid on the alleged highhandedness of the Army in Manipur. Singhjit resigned from his job to join his ailing mother in Imphal and also help drum up support for Sharmila's cause. In 2007, he started the NGO Just Peace Foundation, to raise the issue globally and is its managing trustee. In a telephonic interview from Imphal, 52-year-old Singhajit answers a few questions on life before and after 2000. Edited excerpts:
Over 10 years and the campaign continues; the Government is unrelenting. What do you have to say?
The Central Government's discrimination is apparent; I feel it more so after the Anna Hazare campaign. Cold-blooded murder and rampant human rights abuse continue across Manipur and there is no justice on the horizon. It looks like we are dead for Delhi.
But our resolve is still strong. My sister has not demanded sovereignty, a separate country. All she is asking for is her rights as a citizen of this country to be respected. When the rights of citizens of other States are respected, why is it not so in Manipur? Most people in Manipur don't know what will happen to them the next moment. Army barracks are right in front of my house; any one of us might disappear any moment. There are instances.
After so many years of living this life, we, however, try to keep ourselves happy till the time trouble strikes.
How often do you meet your sister?
Meeting my sister depends on the State Government. If I want to meet her, I have to write to the State Home Ministry, and if I go there daily to pester for it I manage to get permission in 13 to 14 days' time. Otherwise, it takes over a month. So, whenever someone requests me to arrange a meeting with Sharmila, I always seek 35 to 40 days' time. Though the time allowed depends on the jailor, I often get about an hour's time with her.
Where are your other siblings?
We are five brothers and four sisters. My elder brother died of blood cancer some years ago. We are basically a farmer family, though one of my brothers is an engineering graduate. The eldest of the sisters doesn't work, the other two are Home Guards, Sharmila is the youngest of the lot. We all live in and around Imphal.
When did your mother meet her last?
From end 2000 till mid 2009, my mother never met Sharmila. In 2009, she was very sick and was admitted in the same hospital as Sharmila was. We all thought she would not survive; Sharmila got the news and requested the authorities for a meeting with the mother. She came from the security ward of the hospital at midnight to meet her. My mother lives with me, is often quiet. I admire her resolve to not cry for her daughter. She only prays for her success, she respects the fact that her daughter decided to give her life to the people of the State.
