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Manipur activist – and soon-to-be politician – Irom Sharmila is known the world over for one of the longest continuous hunger strikes in history. No morsel of food, except the liquid that she is force-fed through a tube, has entered her mouth in the past 16 years.

Yet, in the video above, a documentary on her life, she says about her protest against the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, (AFSPA) in her state:

"It is not a punishment. It is my bounden duty at my best level. There was no other means to stop further violations by the armed forces."

In another interview (video below), on being asked whether she wants a dialogue with the Indian government, she says defiantly:

"There is no sense in doing a dialogue or anything else. Just what I want is a repeal of this very draconian law."

That's what the woman they call the "Iron Lady of Manipur" really wants – a more humanitarian approach to the problems in North East India.

In 2014, in an interview to RSTV after being released from judicial custody she was optimistic about the BJP-led government doing something about the Manipur situation. "I have good expectations of him, he is a good citizen of India," she had said of the then recently-crowned Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

Perhaps Sharmila's opinions have changed and, as theatre actor and activist Ojas Suniti Vinay asks in her one-act play on Sharmila's life, "How can a song that doesn't even mention us be our national anthem?"

Now the Iron Lady of Manipur feels the need to enter the field of politics herself if there is to be any change. And so she announced to media persons in Imphal, Manipur that she would end her hunger strike and contest the upcoming Manipur elections as an independent candidate.

The documentary above has been directed by independent filmmaker Kavita Joshi, and revisits Sharmila and the surrounding circumstances 16 years after her fast began. Joshi also visits Sharmila's home and interviews her mother, who had promised not to meet her activist daughter until the AFSPA was repealed.

In an interview three years ago, Sharmila spoke about how army actions allowed by the AFSPA were leading to an increase in insurgent groups in the North East.

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In the video below, the 44-year-old activist speaks to RSTV after being released from judicial custody in 2014. Here she calls for a complete repeal of the "draconian" AFSPA law because she feels it is not consistent with humanitarian principles.

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Here's a recording of theatre actor and activist Vinay's one act-play about Sharmila, Le Mashale. It is based on Meira Paibi (Women Bearing Torches), a play by Malayalam writer Civic Chandran.

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Sharmila began her fast to protest against the killings of 10 Manipuri men by paramilitary forces in November 2000, and has been frequently arrested and released since then. She has been courted by political parties before to stand for elections. During the 2014 Parliamentary elections, she was approached by the Aam Aadmi Party because she felt that citizens could get their voices heard without being part of politics.