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| Photo from Buchenwald Concentration Camp |
Farmers Aren’t Moving Anywhere
It
is June 2021
scorching
heat
of
43 degree Celsius
and
heavy downpour
of
the Indian monsoon
yet
the farmers are protesting
against
the three laws
introduced
by the government
living
on the streets
inside
trucks and temporary
camps,
eating langar
some
of them have died
infected
with covid
some
were shot dead
for
their dissent
but
they are still there
where
it all began
steady
in their tone
raising
their demand
and
I don’t think
they
will be moving
anywhere
till the government
bows
down before their
sickles
and tractors
Muslims in India
You’re
not Indians
despite
choosing this land
over
the other during Partition
and
living here
for
your entire lifetime (but a Hindu
who left India for money is.
There is no one who questions his
nationality
and loyalty)
You’re
called terrorist from time
to
time, your love is named jihad,
your
culture is othered and attacked
your
speech is censored and agency
blocked
from entering the policies,
your
loyalty questioned, and your
areas
looked upon as ghettos, your fridges
are
checked and you are forced to say
‘Jai
Shri Ram’, otherwise you are lynched
publicly
and yet you choose to live
and
die in this land
when
you’re discussed, all remember
the
bombs and bullets but no one
remembers
that you are Kalam leading
India’s
scientific revolution, you are Zaheer
Khan
bowling your heart out for the blue
jersey,
you are Rahman holding the Oscar
for
India, you are Rafi, Bismillah,
and
Zakir- the noor of our music,
you
are M.F. Hussain painting India
On
the global map, and Waheeda
melting
the hearts of every household
in
India
you
are so many more whom I can’t
name
here otherwise this one poem
will
be an entire book so when someone
tells
you that you are not Indian enough
just
laugh at their ignorance
and
move on
You don’t need to prove
Your patriotism to people who
haven’t
read how India is the India it
is.
Democracy
Democracy
is nothing more than a word
a
rhetoric to refer to
in
a country
where
sedition laws are practiced
and
internet is shut down
in
multiple states
In
the Parliament where laws are passed
on
the basis of majority vote
by
the members elected
through
majority vote
on
the minority
how
can democracy live there?
Where is Umar Khalid?
Where
is Umar Khalid
the
student leader from JNU
New
Delhi, the capital of India
who
talked of freedom
not
from India but in India
from
dictatorship and fascism
feudalism
and capitalism
casteism
and ethnic cleansing
witch-hunting
of a religion
do
you know where he is
or
have you forgotten him
like
you had forgotten Stan
my
Lord or are you waiting
for
his death
to feel sorry about?
Call out their names
Call
out their names
those
who raise the slogans
of
slaughtering
Muslims
for Ram
don’t
let them
become
faceless
unidentifiable
by
being a part of the mob
and
escape the thunderbolt
of
law
call
out their names
of
those who have written
the
doctrines of Hindutva
and
propagated nazi lies
stuffed
inside the covers
of
anti-colonial hypocrisy
so
that the next generation
doesn’t
forget who is responsible
for
the blood over beef
call
out their names
who
have eaten the flesh
of
the majdoor
to
fill their own pockets
and
spend it on branding
their
image to contest elections
and
win
call
out their names
who
abuse and rape people
to
feel power over
another
body
to
lust for control of
a body that doesn’t belong
to
them
call
out their names
pull
down the curtains
and
expose to the world
their
pale faces
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