Protest in Poetry
You say flowers are blooming on branches you say the deprived are receiving wine
You say their bruised breasts are healing this blatant lie, this corruption of intellect
I do not accept, I will not accept
(Habib Jalib)
Among various forms of art that we know ‘Poetry’ has had a greater impact when it comes to remonstration for a cause. Artists and activists have used poetry as a tool to establish social and political movements. We are very familiar with how valiantly Habib Jalib, Maya Angelou, and Agha Shahid used their poetry to raise questions and concern over the tyranny of people. Poetry has been more popular and powerful form of art, and commanding enough to gather crowds. Poetry demands and attracts much more attention than any other form of art. With its Capacity to embrace a multitude of Perspectives poetry becomes more convenient form of protest that has a lasting impact.
Many poets from the past have courageously used their poems to expose grim truth’s, raise consciousness and started social and political movements. Poets as activists have played an important role in uniting people for a better change. The Poetry which is intended to generate consciousness serves as a catalyst to rise and shape a Revolution. And in many cases poets have faced a great deal of discrimination by the power. We are in the time when atrocities of power Gloom over integrity of people and ruthless oppressors shatter human values. 
And we Witness most gruesome acts being performed everyday In front of an audience. We understand wrong and right, we have capability to separate filthy from innocent but we are too much involved in ourselves that we oversee all the subjugation the week is going through. World has turned much messier in recent times and it seems difficult to form a relationship of events. And in this mess a revolution is revealing its presence through the words of poets. Poets, who are actively fighting for the oppressed, exposing the powerful and trying to recover the perception of people,. One such poet is Hafiz Ahmad from Assam who is one among many poets who with his poems pose an indubitable struggle against people in power to subjugate the feeble.
Write
Write down I am a Miya
My serial number in NRC is 20,543
I have two children
Another is coming next summer
Will you hate him as you hate me?
These lines by Hafiz Ahmed published in an article are an amazing description of discrimination faced by minorities. Hafiz Ahmed is a Muslim poet of Assam from Bengali origin. He is also part of a literary movement called “Miya poetry”. Muslims of Bengali origin are referred to as “Miyas” in Assam that, among other things, highlights the inequity the community faces in the state. On 11 July, a first-information report was filed against Ahmed, along with nine other Miya poets, who were charged with criminal conspiracy and spreading social disharmony under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Their poems were referred as an attempt to defame the Assamese people as racist, at a time when the National Register of Citizens was being updated in the state. Currently, more than 19 lac people who are residents of Assam have been excluded from the NRC, and are at risk of statelessness.
Naveen Chorey pen name ‘Mukamal’ is yet another poet who has recently come up to light with his powerful verses. “Vaastavik Kanoon” a poem about mob lynching by Naveen acclaimed amazing response from social media. Naveen in an interview with Ndtv India said that he was stirred by the terrible things that are happening around and that he wanted to contribute something as a stand against such atrocities. Chemical engineer from IIT Delhi Naveen raises some concerning questions through his poetry. Naveen calls himself an admirer of Adam Gondvi, an Indian poet whose poetry highlighted the plight of marginalized castes, Dalits, and impoverished people.
Amir Aziz, a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia expresses his grief through his poetry on police and system brutality on the protesting students from various universities in different states.
Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega
Sab yaad rakha jayega
Sab Kuch yaad rakha jayega
Tmhari lathiyon or goliyon se jo qatl huye hain mere yaar sab
Unki yaad ko dilo me barbaad rakha jayega
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
Or tum siyahiyon se jhoot likhoge hume maloom hai
Ho hamare khoon se hi sahi sach zaroor likha jayega
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
Mobile, internet, telephone bhari dopeher me band kr k
Sard andheri raat me poore sheher ko nazar band kr k
Hathodiyan lekr dafatan mere ghr me ghus aana
Mere sar badan meri mukhtasar si zindagi ko tod jana
Mere lakht-e-jigar ko beech chorahe pe maar kr
Yun be andaaz hokr tmhara jhund me khade hokr muskurana
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
Or din me mithi mithi baate krna saamne se
Sab kuch thik hai hr zubaan me tutlana
Raat hote hi haq maang rahe logo pe laathiyan chalana goliyan chalana
Hum hi pe hamla krke hum hi ko hamlawar batana
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
Or ye b yaad rakha jayega k kis kis tarah se tumne watan todne ki sazishe ki
Or ye bhi yaad rkha jayega k kis kis tarah se humne watan jodne ki khwahishe ki
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
Or jab kabhi b zikr ayega jahan me daur-e-buzdili ka
Tmhara kaam yaad rkha jayega
Or jab kabhi b zikr ayega jahan me daur-e-zindagi ka
Hmara naam yaad rkha jayega
K kuch log the, jinke irade toote nhi the lohe ki hathodiyon se
K kuch log the, jinke zameer bikey nhi the izar-e-daro ki kodiyon se
K kuch log the, jo tike rhe the tufaan-e-nooh k guzar jaane k baad tak
Or kuch log the, jo zinda rahe the apni maut ki khabar aane k baad tak
Bhale bhool jaye palak aankho ko mundna
Bhale bhool jaye zameen apni dhuri pe ghoomna
Hmare kate paro ki parwaz ko
Hmare phate galo ki awaaz ko yaad rkha jayega
Or tm raat likho, hum chand likhenge
Tm jail me daalo, hum deewar phand likhenge
Tm FIR likho, hum hain tayyar likhenge
Tm hme qatl krdo, hum bnke bhoot likhenge
Tmhare qatl k saare suboot likhenge
Tm adalato se chutkule likho
Hum deewaro pe insaaf likhenge
Behre bhi sunle, itni zor se bolenge
Andhe b padh le, itna saaf likhenge
Tm kaala kamal likho, hum laal gulaab likhenge
Tm zameen pe zulm likho, aasmaan pe inqilaab likha jayega
Sab yaad rkha jayega
Sab kuch yaad rkha jayega
By – AMIR AZIZ
