Poetry of protest in the times of Lynch Raj

“In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing about the dark times.”

-Bertolt Brecht

“Don’t turn Hindustan into Lynchistan,” Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge exhorted during his spirited speech in Parliament on July 31. He was speaking about the mob lynchings in the name of religion since the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre.

The term Lynchistan has, of late, come into vogue following growing incidence of cow-vigilantism. On one hand, phrases like ‘national, anti-national and sedition’ have dramatically dominated the public discourse, hashtags like #CowTerrorists #NewIndia #Lynchistan #LynchRaj #Intolerance and #SaffronTerror have surfaced in the cyber space on the other.

The growing incidence of mob killings of Dalits and Muslims has seen many agitated poets taking recourse to their pen to register their protests. Social media is replete with protest poems against the bloodlust of faceless mobs and the government’s cold indifference.

At a time when people are being dubbed ‘anti-national’ for criticising or even questioning the policies of the government and are being threatened with sedition charges at the drop of a hat, these poets have fearlessly been taking the glorious legacy of liberal political activism forward.

Additionally, the poetry of dissent and resistance is coming handy to get the protest registered. Whenever an incident of lynching is reported, conscientious social media users invariably post Urdu couplets to register their protest online. Among others, Faiz, Sahir and Jalib seem to be the most quoted poets.

Undeterred and unfazed, many poets have been writing rebellious verses. The kind of poetry which is recited live before the audience in mushaira and Kavi Sammelan these days also gives an interesting insight into the current political and socioeconomic conditions being created by hate and fear mongering. Many videos of poets reciting powerful protest poems—against cow vigilantism and attacks on minorities—are going viral on social media with several clips from poetic congregations getting millions of views on Youtube.

Sample these blunt and candid couplets of eminent poet Dr Rahat Indori where he takes pot-shots at the compromised and partisan media:

Kaun zaalim hai yahan, zulm hua hai kis par,

kya khabar aaye gi, akhbaar ko tay karna hai!

Apnay ghar mein mujhay kya khaana, pakana kya hai,

Ye bhi mujh ko nahin sarkaar ko taye karna hai!

(Who is the tormentor here, who is the victim,

Which news will get published, the newspaper has to decide!

What I’ve to eat at home, what to cook,

This too I don’t have to decide, the government is there)

Ban kay aik hadsaa, bazaar mein aa jaaye ga,

Jo nahin hoga, wo akhbaar mein aa jaaye ga!

(Just like an accident, it will emerge in the marketplace,

That which didn’t occur, will appear in the newspaper!)

In the same mushaira, he was heard lamenting: “The man who has affectionately brought dinner for me from his home today is a Jain. I am a Muslim. But the government doesn’t seem to understand this.”

Koi kya sochta rehta hai mere baaray mein,

ye khayal aate he humsaaye se dar lagta hai!

Aik naye khauf ka mahool hai ab chaaron taraf,

ab mujhay sher nahi gaaye se dar lagta hai

(What people think about me all the time,

This thought makes me fear my neighbour!

A new atmosphere of fear is now all around,

I don’t fear the lion anymore, now that the cow is there!)

In another ghazal, he says:

Ab kahan dhundne jaogey humarey qaatil,

Aap to qaatl ka ilzaam humi par rakh do

(Where will you go now to look out for my murderers,

You better put the accusation of my murder on my head)

Incidentally, a year after the Dadri lynching case, where a mob beat 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq to death, his family blamed “bad times” for his killing.

Imran Pratapgarhi’s poems on the Dadri mob lynching and dramatic disappearance of Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmed, who is missing for over eight months now, have got millions of views on YouTube.

Urdu poet and scientist Gauhar Raza—who was singled out as ‘anti-national’ and a supporter of the ‘Afzal Guru-loving camp’ by Zee News last year—was as defiant as his new poem: Naya libaas pehan kar ye kyon samajhtay ho, at the ‘Not In My Name’ protest in Delhi on June 28. The protest meets under this name were held in various Indian and world cities after 17-year-old Junaid was killed by a mob on board a Mathura-bound train.

Hindi poet Rajesh Joshi wrote a poem: Junaid ko maar dalo (Kill Junaid) and echoed the sentiments of many. In his poem, he bemoans the silence over vigilante justice and laments: “The road of dictatorship is laid on human bodies.”

Naya Hukumnama (The New Ordinance), a poem by Javed Akhtar, talks about oppression and authoritarianism. With metaphors like air, currents of water and flowers, he asserts that air and water currents don’t follow the dictates of despotic rulers.

“Despite law enforcing officials, a garden can’t have all the flowers of the same colour. The air can’t be clenched in the fists of rulers, handcuffs and prisons,” his poem says, and ends with a forewarning: “When the currents are made to stop, howsoever the sea may appear calm on the surface, it remains turbulent indeed. It’s delusional calmness for it is bound to lead to deluge.”