After the big ‘Anna moment’ which caught the attention of the country, city students are now extending their support to ‘Save Sharmila campaign’.
Irom Sharmila, who is also known as the “iron lady” of the Northeast, is the idol of many students in Delhi, and they are doing everything in their capacity to support her 11 years of fasting to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Seram Rojesh, PhD student from Delhi School of Economics, says that this moment is the need of the hour since there are so many people in the country who are not aware what is AFSPA? He says, “The student groups from various colleges will gather to extend their support to ‘Save democracy, repeal AFSPA’. Recently, we also organised a candle light march from GTV Nagar, Kingsway camp to Arts Faculty. It was organised to support Irom Sharmila’s struggle against the undemocratic policy. On October 2, from 11.30 to 3 pm, we are conducting a peaceful march and a signature campaign at Jantar Mantar. Everyone is welcome to lend their support to the march.”
Students from various colleges are hosting seminars, walks and marches all through the week and many more activities are are being planned ahead.
Shobit Pandey, a final year student, at the Amity University, says, “I am the media coordinator for ‘Save Sharmila campaign’ and we do intend to spread the message across all students. We will be participating at the candle light march to show our support.”
Some have taken the fastest route to spread the message — Internet, and have started online campaigns and created events on Facebook for those who want to learn more about the AFSPA.
Uday Kapur, student at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, recently organised a seminar titled ‘Armed Forces Special Powers Act: Human Rights violation or evil necessity?’ He says, “We organised this seminar to raise awareness regarding the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. We also screened a documentary called My Body My Weapon on the implications of AFSPA and Irom’s protest, who is on hunger strike for the past 11 years. We got a good response as 50 students turned up at the event and we had a discussion with the speaker Bung Bung Rojesh on this topic.”