Manipur activist Iron Sharmila said that Indians in large numbers should join activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since June 26. The “burden to correct the system” does not fall solely on Wangchuk, but is the responsibility of every citizen who has a conscience and wants to bring about change, she said.

Wangchuk’s hunger strike is part of the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on account of alleged mismanagement in conducting competitive exams.

“It is not Sonam’s burden alone and people should not expect him to be martyred,” Sharmila told Scroll over a phone conversation from Bangalore, where she now lives with her twin daughters and husband. “It is a collective cause and demand, and everyone should join him and if everyone comes to the street, the security forces won’t be enough and the government will have to address the issue.”

She added: “For collective cause, persistence and united voices are needed for social change. You can not just let the individual protestor become a martyr.”

Sharmila, now 53, fasted for 16 years from November 2000 to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which has been operational in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of North East–Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

The act creates a culture of impunity by granting security forces immunity from prosecution, enabling human rights abuses, legal experts say.

Sharmila was 28 when she started her fast to protest the killing of 10 civilians in Malom town by Assam Rifles personnel, and to demand that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act be repealed. About 17 days into her protest, the authorities began to force-feed her through a nasal tube.

On Friday, Wangchuk’s protest entered its 28th day. The Indian government is yet to respond to his demands.

“The demand is big, but as the people are not united, the impact of the protest on the government is not there,” Sharmila said. “That’s why the government doesn’t care. The government does not get threatened by a protest of a single person. The government just waits and sees, avoids and lets it go.”

Sharmila cited the example of the year-long farmers’ agitation in 1920-’21, which forced the government to agree to repeal the three farm laws that the protestors contended were unfair. Lakhs of farmers participated in the protest.

“A protest will be successful only if there is a mass united agitation,” Sharmila said. “When I was doing a hunger strike in Manipur, the support from the public was not there much.”

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Sharmila said that she did not receive the support of the public when she needed it. “People in Manipur wanted me to be a martyr for its cause,” she said. “They want to sacrifice me. Because they saw that I was the only one who was protesting, all the responsibility and burden was on my head despite it being a collective cause. The people were only singing my glory that I was protesting for years. But the people did not help when I needed help.”

When asked in light of Wangchuk’s protest, how does she view fasting as a method of protest to make demands of the government in the current Bharatiya Janata Party regime, Sharmila said that political parties in India – be it the Congress or the Hindutva party – do not respect democratic rights.

“In India, they will just kill and jail whoever criticises the government,” Sharmila said. “There is no real democracy in India.”

Even though Wangchuk has been staging a non-violent protest at the heart of the country’s capital Delhi, where millions of people live, only a few hundred young people are participating the protest, she said.

“In a democratic society, its youth have a duty to correct a wrong in the system or administration,” Sharma said. “It is not just Sonam Wangchuk’s responsibility. Sonam Wangchuk needs a collective moral support, commitment and participation of the masses. If the people are united and physically go there at Jantar Mantar, the government will be afraid and will be forced to address the demands.”