“In Manipur, there is no real democracy and politics is so dirty”, Sharmila, also known as Manipur’s “Iron Lady”, told reporters after breaking her fast.
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“I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response. I will never forget this moment”.
Sharmila wants to become the chief minister of Manipur to improve its situation. ” ‘I don’t want to be a goddess, ‘ she once told the Indian Express newspaper”.
“Let them kill me, the way people killed Mahatma Gandhi. the way they killed Jesus Christ, ” Sharmila said. I want to try a different agitation now.
“I have to change my strategy”.
Sharmila, 43, had not eaten for years as a protest against an immunity law covering Indian military in the country’s conflict zones such as her home state, the northeastern state of Manipur, where a separatist rebellion has raged for almost four decades. When Sharmila was brought to the Court Complex this morning at around 11 in a tight security environment, mediapersons could not interact her as she has directly entered into the court room.
Sharmila launched her hunger strike in November 2000 after a battalion of the Assam Rifles allegedly gunned down 10 civilians in a village near Imphal.
Her hunger strike was “a testament to her passion for human rights, and her belief that a draconian law like the AFSPA has no place in any society”, he added, using the initials for the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that Sharmila still hopes to overturn.
Sharmila announced last week that she planned to end the fast and run for political office.
As per the bond, Sharmila will not continue her hunger strike after her release, though the release has not been officially declared as of now.
Ms Chanu has been force-fed through a tube in her nose for more than a decade.
Asked where she will stay now, Sharmila said she will stay in an ashram.
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The frail, wiry 44-year-old had left, for the last time, the prison hospital in which she spent years being force-fed through a plastic tube after being arrested for attempted suicide. “But this is my decision”, she said. “So she would have to be in the hospital for next three days where she will be given solid foods gradually and her health condition will be monitored”, said a doctor at the hospital.
