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4/4/24

New | Poetry | Sutputra Radheye

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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