What does an anthem of unity and resistance sound like? At times it is cutting, angry and urgent, like, Dub Sharma and Divine’s ‘Azadi’. And sometimes, as Ankur Tewari’s ‘Woh Hum Nahin’ shows, it is an emotional sing-along melody.
The singer-songwriter’s latest track, released on JioSaavn, is his response to the ongoing violence in the college campuses of Delhi — Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). ‘Woh Hum Nahin’ (That is not us) chooses to dissociate itself from those that “propagate the politics of hate,” says Ankur. “The phrase came to me because of how the hate from certain hypocritical people has hijacked most of the things seen as peaceful earlier, such as the flag and the National Anthem. That idea had been ringing in my head for quite a while.”
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The singer is one among many artistes, musicians, standup comedians and graphic designers who have taken a stand on the student movement against CAA/NRC.
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While he is glad about this, he says the number of people speaking up doesn’t matter to him. “I have done gigs where no one has showed up, and others where 50,000 people have showed up. It has never been about the numbers — even if one person shows up and shares my dream, that is enough for me.”
Despite the reaction it is receiving so far, Ankur refuses to call it a protest anthem: “Protests have a negative connotation to it. I think of this as more of a peace anthem. At a time when agents of hate are trying to polarise us, it is about standing together,” he says. “ The whole song is about standing in unity and solidarity. Since childhood, the one thing I have understood about our nation is unity in diversity, and I completely believe in it. If you think you can divide us, that is not us.”