By D.Karthikeyan
Power-packed solo performance by Pune-based artiste enthrals audience
Photo:S. James 
POIGNANT:Theatre artiste Ojas SV depicting Irom Sharmila's struggle to “restore” democracy, in Madurai on Tuesday. —
The issue around membership — who does and who does not belong — is where the politics of citizenship begins. It is impossible to chart the history of the concept very far without coming sharply up against successive attempts to restrict citizenship to certain groups and to exclude others.
— Stuart Hall and David Held.
MADURAI: The question of citizenship at a broader level is what which has become critical in the case of north-east people and a power-packed solo performance ( Torch-bearing Woman) by Pune-based artiste Ojas SV on the everyday life of people in Manipur and the portrayal of the indomitable spirit of Irom Chanu Sharmila left the audience with a lot of food for thought.
The event organised by People's Watch here on Tuesday took the audience to that time of what happened in Manipur and how democratic rights were trampled upon and how the situation, at its worst, made a young girl take up this ordeal of indefinite hunger strike for more than a decade — demanding the withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958, — moved the audience.
The first few minutes of her performance highlighted the everyday life of Manipur people who still are devoid of proper basic amenities but still Manipur is seen as the potential powerhouse for mainland India. Citing the All Women's Indigenous Market in Imphal and the move to demolish it, she expressed how the Manipuris feel that the State is attempting to erase their own symbols of identity.
Malom massacre
The drama moved towards showing the young Irom Sharmila who loved poetry and who wished to spread the fragrance of peace to the world. She grew up with a lot of unanswered questions, the non-representation of leaders of the north-east who fought against the British in history textbooks but without any mention about their land in the national anthem.
Hailing from a rural background, Sharmila, while working as a journalist for Human Rights Alert, witnessed a lot of atrocities that were committed by the Army against the people of Manipur, felt that enough was enough.
On November 1, 2000, men of 8 Assam Rifles (AR) opened indiscriminate fire on a group of villagers waiting at a roadside bus shelter at Malom village, near Imphal airport, and killed 10, one of them a pregnant woman and another a National Bravery Awardee of 1988. This incident affected Irom Sharmila very much.
This incident was portrayed with a wonderful performance by Ojas where she, looking into the day's newspaper with tears, crushes the paper. The newspaper was sprinkled with red colour symbolising the blood stain.
Struggle for democracy
To stop all this, to shake up the government, to repeal this draconian law to bring back democratic values, on November 4, 2000, she decided to launch an indefinite hunger strike demanding the withdrawal of AFSPA Act.
Irom Sharmila was nearly four years into her fast when Thangjam Manorama, a young Manipuri woman, was taken away from her home on the night of July 10-11, 2004 by security forces on suspicion of being an insurgent, then raped, tortured and killed.
A powerful performance follows when Ojas goes near the military fatigues hanged on a stand, boots below trampling a girl doll. She takes the doll, removes the dress and unstrings her body parts thus reproducing the gruesome incident. After her bullet-ridden body was recovered, a dozen Manipuri women on July 15, 2004, walked naked to the historic Kangla Fort (which then housed the headquarters of the Assam Rifles) in protest, holding banners with the slogans, “Indian Army, rape us overtly” and “Rape us the way you did Manorama”.
The fading out of traditional Manipuri music which was followed by the sudden rise of sound of marching boots followed by staccato rifle shots and Ojas shouting high in her voice ‘Indian Army', ‘fake encounters,' ‘detentions', ‘mass killings' illustrated the everyday life of Manipuris.
She ended the performance with Irom, in her force-fed nasal drip visiting Rajghat in Delhi on October, 2, 2006 where she paid floral tributes at Gandhi's samadhi, but was arrested on the charge of attempt to suicide. She also showed Shirin Ebadi, Nobel laureate from Iran who visited her in Delhi and highlighted her statement that if Irom died, the Parliament, Indian State, its machinery and the press would be held responsible. She espoused her struggle for democracy at international forums. After meeting Sharmila in person, Ojas has been performing across the country demanding support for the cause.
0 comments:
Post a Comment