Irom ends fast, wants to be CM

Manipur’s human rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu on Tuesday ended her 16-year fast against the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in the state.

Sharmila ended her fast by taking honey in a special ward at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here. The doctors removed the tube through which she was forcefully nasal-fed for the last 16 years.

While announcing that she would join politics to fulfil her goal of repealing AFSPA from the trouble-torn state, Sharmila said that she will contest the Assembly polls in 2017 against Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, and expressed her wish to become the chief minister.

Sharmila said she will see her mother only after AFSPA has been repealed from Manipur and till then, she will stay in an Ashram. Earlier in the day, Sharmila appeared in the court of the chief judicial magistrate (Imphal West), which granted her bail. 

The court, however,



has asked her to appear on August 23. Sharmila was granted bail after she told the court that she wants to end her fast.

“Despite fasting for 16 years, I got nothing. I have decided to end the fast to do something different. This is my decision,” Sharmila told reporters.

On being asked why she wants to change her form of struggle, Sharmila claimed that there is no real democracy in Manipur.

“I will contest against Manipur chief minister. If I am elected I will struggle for removal of AFSPA. Only talking peace does not help. Presently it is dirty politics and no democracy,” she said.

Sharmila claimed that she does not like to be an icon, but a real embodiment of revolution. She also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that he indulged in violence and in his own happiness. 

“The prime minister can connect to us without discrimination, violence and such laws (AFSPA),” she said.