Manipur should take the struggle over from Irom Sharmila instead of abandoning her

Shame on the people of Manipur who made Irom Sharmila feel dejected by preventing her from entering Kaisampat area of Imphal town. Sharmila should be angry today instead of being hurt, angry at this audacious sense of entitlement over her body (and identity) displayed by an array of people. [caption id=“attachment_618487” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Irom Sharmila. AFP[/caption] Who is Alliance for Socialist Unity, Kangleipak (ASUK)? Why should Sharmila care about what they think they are entitled to? What moral right or authority do they have to suggest to her that she should not marry a certain person or fight elections? What makes Sharmila’s brother believe that he is entitled to a ‘consultation’ from her? Sharmila’s mother, my respect to her, but what kind of heartless mother pulls a long face at the news of her daughter finally reclaiming her life? The Meira Paibis, you all are mothers? What kind of mother would force her daughter to die when she clearly wants her life back for whatever reasons? We should all be angry at this bunch of thankless and heartless people who are so selfish that they would rather see her die or rot alone, just so that they can continue to feel good and morally superior that one of their own is dying for them, one, whose body is not hers but that of the nation. After everything that she has done, people should rather just bow their head, say thank you and start thinking for themselves. When Sharmila broke her fast on Tuesday with a drop of honey, a certain journalist said, “Ma’am, you are a Goddess for the people of Manipur.” Sharmila immediately retorted in her frail voice, “I do not like that identity. I am a human.” Enough is enough, really. The time has come that every Indian woman starts getting furious every time somebody calls them Goddess. There can be nothing more dehumanising than imagining women as Goddesses and using that image for religious gratification. Sharmila’s fate today is a stark reminder of the bone-chilling ending of Satyajit Ray’s classic Devi (1960) in which we see that the living Goddess who was being worshipped for months is frantically running for her life as she is scared that the mob will kill her because she failed in her performance as a Goddess. Based upon a short story by Provatkumar Mukhopadhyay, the film depicts the tragic consequences of objectifying women as Goddesses. The patriarch of a wealthy upper caste Bengali family had a dream one day that his daughter-in-law, Dayamayi, 17, is Goddess Kali’s incarnation. Next morning, he jumps out of his bed and heads straight towards Dayamayi’s bedroom, calling out “Maa, Maa”. Dayamayi opens the door and he falls upon her feet in reverence followed by her Bhasur (husband’s elder brother). This sudden intrusion in a woman’s private space around her body is as much discomforting as it is when she’s been groped by a man in a crowded bus or breathed heavily upon. In no time, the young beautiful sexual Dayamayi was transformed into a pious living Goddess stripped of every shred of her human identity. She is displaced from her bedroom and shifted to worship room, her gold jewellery are replaced by flower garlands, colourful sarees are replaced by a plain simple one, the kohl from her eyes are rubbed off, the red hue from chewing beetle leaves are missing from her luscious lips. She is made to sit alone on a pedestal like a statue while a large group of men perform various rituals around her. The solitary woman in a room full of men, all of whom are looking at her and getting some sort of gratification. This is the same as a room full of men watching poll dancers. Objectifying and dehumanising women for whatever purpose is simply unacceptable. The nation (here defined in more ways than political borders) plays out its politics on women bodies. Nation’s idea of masculinity, feminity, sexuality, culture is depicted through women’s bodies and that includes its idea of struggle and resistance. By ending her unprecedented 16-year-long fast, Irom Sharmila has reclaimed her body for herself, and the people of Manipur are feeling a sense of loss. They are not upset because this is a setback for the fight against AFSPA but because it is a loss of the body that represented their politics. Suddenly, the barycentre around which they were orbiting is missing. These are wails of people who are clueless themselves, unsure of the next logical step. Manipur should think for itself and come up with ideas to take the struggle over from Sharmila. Instead, they are hell bent upon sacrificing her at the altar so that they can make a statue of her, put a garland on it and continue to claim her body as the nation’s legacy.