A mere echo of dissent at Jashn-e-Rekhta 

“The murderers of our times are writing history with blood and iron. As I read out this essay, I can endure the pounding inflicted upon me by all of you. But if in a HinduMuslim riot somebody hits me in the head, every drop of my blood will keep crying. I am an artist and I don’t like superficial wounds and obscene scars,” recited Nawazuddin Siddiqui, quoting Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto on the Hindu-Muslim communal divide at the time of partition.

He was accompanied by Nandita Das, who is directing a movie on Manto, at the fourth edition of three-day Jashn-e-Rekhta in the Capital. Time seems to have stood still. In the early 20th century, Urdu poet and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote a ghazal, which forewarned the struggles and the sacrifices that come with fighting communalism, injustice and an oppressive regime: Jala ke mishal-e-jaan ham junun-sifat chale Jo ghar ko aag lagay hamare saath chale! (We who possess frenzied qualities are walking in the light of our burning lives, one who can set ablaze his house can join us) Such verses become all the more relevant in current times which have been witnessing a rise in hyper-nationalism, communal violence in the name of cow protection, love-jihad and ghar-wapsi. Writers, journalists and filmmakers are under attack. The liberal and progressive ideas are again at a greater risk.

A special session on the poetry of protest saw Shubha Mudgal singing the ghazal. In her inimitable style, she sang: Sutun-e-dar pe rakhte chalo saron ke charagh, Jahan talak ye sitam ki siyah raat chale! (Keep putting the lamps of heads atop pillar of gallows, as long as this dark night of terror lasts.)

Though Shubha set out with a satirical ghazal of Iban-e-Insha: Kuchh kehne ka waqt nahin kuchh na kaho khamosh raho, she ensured, the rest of the concert was a confluence of fiery poetry and powerful rendition in Hindustani classical music. She followed it with her rendition of Dushyant Kumar’s ghazal: Kahaan toh tayy tha chiragaan har ek ghar ke liye, Kahaan charaag mayassar nahin shahar ke liye (They had promised string lights for every household, while we can’t find even one lamp for the entire city.)