Mahasveta Devi inaugurates a talk show in Imphal on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Imphal, Nov. 5: The Manipur government today refused permission to Magsaysay award winner and writer Mahasveta Devi to meet hunger striker Irom Sharmila, leaving the author disappointed and fuming.

Mahasveta Devi wanted to meet Sharmila for her next book.

“The government did not allow me to meet the courageous woman (Sharmila). The attitude of your chief secretary and the home department is disappointing,” the Calcutta-based writer told reporters before leaving the city today.

Mahasveta Devi arrived here on November 2 to inaugurate the Festival of Hope, Justice and Peace, organised to mark the completion of nine years of Sharmila’s fast-unto-death agitation against the imposition of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Chief secretary D.S. Poonia also refused to meet her.

“When I tried to meet the chief secretary, he declined. He asked who is Mahasveta Devi. Even the Prime Minister knows me and takes my calls. And here the chief secretary says he did not know me. The chief secretary should be educated. It is a pity,” she said.

“My next book will be based against the background of the situation in Manipur. Through the book, I want to tell the people in India and abroad about Sharmila’s struggle,” Mahasveta Devi said.

The writer said she would launch an awareness campaign on Sharmila’s struggle and her “fantastic courage”.

She said artistes and writers should come to Manipur to highlight the chaotic situation here through their work.

Mahasveta Devi took part in an ongoing sit-in yesterday near the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Imphal East to show solidarity with the jailed hunger striker. Sharmila has been confined in this hospital.

The writer also opened a talk on the theme, “Politics, Literature and Society” at the anthropology department of Manipur University.

A film based on violence in Kashmir titled Jashn-e-Azadi was also screened today.

On November 3, Mahasveta Devi opened a musical concert in which artistes presented songs written by Sharmila. On the opening day of the festival, Aryan Theatre staged a play based on Mahasveta Devi’s novel Hazaar Chaurasi ki Ma. The festival will conclude tomorrow.