Eight years of a regime
Ruined every social fabric of a nation
Destroying the pillars of a nation
With a brute majority in electoral democracy
The opposition voices are stifled with the
Overreaching arms of the government
A witch-hunting of epic proportions
Even the courts play fiddle to the government
The compromised media give characterisations
To the rebel voices in favour of the government
Those new media are characterized as Godi media
The social media cell of the ruling party target
rebel voices with false narration and maligning campaigns
The female rebel voices get rape threats and character assassination
The voices that question the government are characterized as
anti-nationals, Urban Naxals, and tukde-tukde gang
The journalists who report against the government
Lose their jobs and they get haunted by fictitious charges
Even court interventions don't give enough relief
Social activists who work for the rights of the people
They are characterized as villains and they are jailed
With sedition charges that make it difficult to get bail
The tribals are stripped of right over their lands
Haunted by armed forces and characterized as maoists
Rationalists were shot dead for campaigning against
the superstitions and other blind faiths that affect people
The NGOs that work among the poor are characterized as
money launderers and they lost their right to get foreign funds
Amnesty International is banned in my country and you can
Imagine the plight of the right activists right now
Many RTI activists have been killed or face a threat
Kashmiries were stripped of their privileges and oppressed
They're characterized as Pakistani sympathizers
Things related to Muslims are characterized as jihad,
ranging from love jihad, UPSC jihad to Halal Jihad
There are hundreds of Muslims living in detention centres
characterized as illegal migrants by the government
Not to mention the characterization of them as beef eaters
And being lynched in the name of possessing beef or for being Muslims
The students who protested against the citizenship bill were
beaten up ruthlessly and got jailed on serious charges
The farmers who fought against farm laws were
characterized as Khalistani supporters until they won
Hundreds of youth were beaten up for seeking jobs
Criminals wearing saffron are characterized as patriots
My own brethren were compared as Somalians by the premier
The government characterises political opponents as economic offenders
The followers of an ideology that stayed away from the freedom struggle
Characterizes themselves as the nationalists and they try to impose
Their beliefs on the large population from different cultural heritage
The vegetarians who support the government are trying to impose
Vegetarianism on meat-eaters with the characterization of sinners
There is a characterization of Hindi as a national language
Though it is only an official language and there is the imposition
of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states through government policies
The characterization of Dalits as people of lower strata
They face atrocities in the form of rape and octraisation
Now there is an us versus them narrative from the government
Letting real economic offenders escape from the country
And stop the people who can speak against them from visiting
Other countries
This poem is based on a monthly journal prompt from #anneapart. *tukde- pieces or splintering *jihad-the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin. *Godi- lap. This poem has a political tone as I am not oblivious to what I see in my country. Image from iStock. Thank you :)
