03 January,2020 07:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Shunashir Sen
The beauty of poetry lies in the fact that unlike how it is with a newspaper report, people are free to make their own interpretations of the lines. But it is this very aspect of a particular Faiz Ahmed Faiz nazm called Hum dekhenge that has created a fault line on the IIT Kanpur campus. Some students recited it during a protest march. A faculty member then lodged a complaint against them, saying the poem is anti-Hindu. The protesting students pooh-poohed this claim, though an inquiry against them is underway. Either way, we felt that it was a good opportunity to ask six city-based performance artistes about their favourite protest poems and songs. Here's what they said.
It gets verse
Sumeet Thakur, actor
Tu zinda hai toh zindagi ki jeet par yakin kar by Faiz Ahmed Faiz gives me goosebumps. It talks about how everything changes with time, so fight for what you believe in because even the times of oppression will pass. So, you shouldn't give up. I also recently recited a poem, which my brother Sujeet has written, at an open-mic event organised during one of the protests. It's called Lahoo, and goes like this: "Kyun khud ko maan baitha tu jaise koi bhagwaan hai? Bhool naa, yeh kaal hai, tu tucchh sa insaan hai. Aaye gaye hain saikdon, tu bhi yahan se jaayega. Tu hai kya, aur tu kaun hai, kya 'acche din' tu laayega?"
A burning anger
Ankur Tewari, musician
Hum dekhenge is actually a strong piece of poetry in itself, considering it was used against General Zia in Pakistan. There is also a lot of text in Saadat Hasan Manto's poetry that I feel holds up a mirror to society, and it's so crazy that what we once saw in dictatorial Pakistan is now happening in India. When it comes to protest songs, my favourite ones are Bob Dylan's The times they are a changin' and Blowing in the wind. I have also written a bunch of them, such as Ainda, which is basically a love song for trolls, and Mohabbat zindabad that has the line, "Sab jala hain, poochhte ho hai naraazgi kya?"
There's no debate here
Roshan Abbas, TV personality
[Rabindranath Tagore's] Ekla Cholo Re is my favourite protest poem/song, because I heard it a lot while growing up. Varun Grover's piece, Kagaz nahin dikhayenge, deeply resonates with me as well. I also love the graffiti being created around the protests; one of my favourites is, 'Human rights is my religion.' I haven't been in the country recently, but as a friend told me, one form of protest is to raise your voice and share [your views]. That's what I have been doing so far. Democracy is based on principles of debate and dissent, and that's what I want [for the country].
A Hurricane of support
Imaad Shah, actor and musician
Faiz Ahmed Faiz was as even-minded and secular as they come. In fact, he was an outspoken atheist and socialist, and the complete opposite of anyone trying to propagate Islam. Pakistan has sadly had a connection between the state and religion, and India should avoid going down that route. Either way, a few protest songs that I like are Bob Dylan's Hurricane [which talks of a promising Afro-American boxer imprisoned in a false case]; Woodie Guthrie's This land is your land, a song about America that can easily be transposed to any other country, especially India right now; and Joan Baez's version of Joe Hill, an old folk song about a labour union leader who was killed randomly.
Which side are you on?
Saba Azad, actor and musician
The CAA and NRC are carbon copies of the Nuremberg laws from Hitler's Germany and nothing short of a political tool the current government is using to divide people on the basis of religion and distract them from the abysmal state of the economy. The people of this country are unhappy and it is important for anyone with a platform to share the voices of dissent as often and as widely as possible. I've also been going for protest marches, and writing and performing protest music. There is a poem by Safdar Hashmi called Mera janam hua tha [that I like]. I think Bob Dylan's Desolation row and Pete Seeger's Which side are you on are also really poignant for what's going on right now.
'We will not accept this'
Dharmesh Parmar aka MC Tod Fod, hip-hop artiste
My favourite piece of protest poetry is another nazm by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which has the line, 'Bol ke lab azad hain tere, bol zabaan ab tak teri hai.' These words urge you to raise your voice because you still have it, and we chanted them at the protests in Mumbai recently. Musically, there are many people I love when it comes to protest songs, such as Sheetal Sathe, Kabir Kala Manch and the lok shayari guys. I also love this song called Unite, by Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate. And as far as the CAA and NRC go, we are lucky to be in Mumbai, because I can see the blood spilling on the streets elsewhere. This is terror, and we are not going to accept it.
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