IMPHAL: Activist
Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on a fast demanding repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for the last 14 years, has rejected
Aam Admi Party (AAP)'s offer to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha polls under its banner from Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat.
Through Just Peace Foundation (JPF), a trust set up by rights activists for the cause of Sharmila's unrelenting crusade against the military act, senior
AAP leader Prashant Bhushan proposed her to contest the election.
"Since I don't want to enter politics, I have applied my mind and rejected the offer this morning," Sharmila told reporters on Friday during her routine production before an Imphal court.
The police charged the 'Iron Lady of Manipur' under section 309 IPC (attempt to commit suicide).
"Politics according to me is uncertain and vague as the people cannot keep their faith and trust on the politicians all the time," said Sharmila (42).
Human Rights Alert (HRA) executive director and JPF trustee Babloo Loitongbam said that Sharmila, as usual, has no interest in joining politics.
In the height of the Manipur assembly election in January 2012, Sharmila had termed the politicians as "shameless people", saying that they failed to scrap
AFSPA despite their countless promises.
People of insurgency-hit Manipur have been demanding the repeal of AFSPA that gives sweeping powers to the armed forces even to the extent of shooting people on mere suspicion.
A resident of Kongpal Konkham Leikai in Imphal East, Sharmila has been fasting since November 5, 2000, three days after Assam Rifles troops shot dead ten civilians at Malom village in Imphal West in an alleged retaliatory firing.
She is currently being forced-fed through her nose at the security ward of the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital.
Irom Sharmilla rejects AAP's offer to contest LS polls - The Times of India