oppn parties Irom Sharmila Did Not Lose, Manipur Did

News Snippets

  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
  • IPL: records tumble as SRH beat MI in a high-scoring match. SRH score 277/3 with 18 sixes and Mumbai score 246 with 20 sixes to fall short by 31 runs. Atotal of 38 sixes, highest in an IPL match were hit and both teams combined to score 523 runs, the highest aggregate in an IPL match
  • Amul will launch fresh milk in the US
  • IPL: RCB beat Punjab by 4 wickets as Kohli and Karthik shine with the bat
  • India strongly objected to German foreign office remarks over the arrest of delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, called it "biased assumptions"
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Irom Sharmila Did Not Lose, Manipur Did

By Anukriti Roy
First publised on 2017-03-14 21:03:07

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Anukriti is a student who dabbles in writing when she finds time.
For 16 years of hunger strike to get AFPSA repealed and the armed forces removed from Manipur, Irom Sharmila was rewarded with 90 votes when she stood for election against the sitting chief minister Ibobi Singh from Thoubal. Surprisingly, 143 hit the NOTA button. How on earth can a Manipur resident think none of the candidates are fit if the list contains Irom Sharmila?

Irom Sharmila spent the best years of her life to protest against army atrocities on her innocent Manipuri brothers and sisters. But the people were not grateful. Sacrifice does not count in our society, especially where politics is concerned.

Money and muscle power defines who wins or loses. Rarely is an election decided on principles or issues. The party that has the most charismatic or notorious leader, backed by a well-oiled election machinery that has goons masquerading as cadre and a generous war chest, often wins election. It seems Irom Sharmila’s charisma was limited to the human rights groups. Otherwise there is no reason why she could lose.

There is one more thing though. Sharmila chose the wrong seat to contest. Pitting a debutant like herself against a crafty and seasoned politician like Ibobi Singh was a mistake. Apart from making a statement, it served little purpose. She should have stood from where she belonged, where people knew and respected her. If her purpose was to carry on with her battle against AFPSA and other issues as a legislator, she made a big mistake by taking on Singh and not getting elected.

Finally, it reflects very poorly on the priorities of our society if a person like Sharmila loses. Indians send people with rape, arson, robbery and other criminal cases pending against them to their legislative bodies. These people do not contribute anything to either the debate on vital issues or to nation building. Sharmila would have raised important issues in the Manipur assembly. Her voice would have carried weight as she is internationally renowned activist.

By not electing her, the people of Thoubal have done a great injustice to the whole of Manipur. Irom Sharmila has not lost; it is the people of Manipur who have.